Williams are targeting second in the Constructors’ Championship and have therefore set their sights on overhauling Mercedes’ nearest rival, Ferrari.
The Grove outfit currently sit 60 points adrift of the Italian marque, but have been steadily closing that gap since the Canadian Grand Prix.
With Valtteri Bottas scoring the teams first podium of the season in Canada, followed by Felipe Massa’s podium in Austria and their strong showing in Britain, that gap has been reduced by 17 points in just three races.
That’s led the team to amend its target and focus on securing second, which performance chief Rob Smedley believes they are capable of achieveing with a strong development path already in place.
“We are constantly bringing new bits to every grand prix in all areas of the car,” he told Autosport. “The team is developing the car in small incremental steps and there is more to come.
“We are trying more and more to put ourselves into a more favourable position as we want to try and get second position in the championship – that is our target now.”
With F1 heading to the slower Hungaroring next, Williams aren’t expecting such a strong performance, but Smedley insists it’s an area they are working on improving.
“We know we are still missing a bit in the low speed and we are big enough to hold hands up and say that is the case,” he added.
“It’s looking at clever ways of developing the car, innovative ways let’s say, so we can continue development of high-speed but at same time accelerate development of low-speed.
“We have to improve the areas where we are weak, while at same time improving the areas where we are strong.”
