Williams didn't expect to be 'so far off the pace'

Slowest of all by some margin in Melbourne, Claire Williams admits she knew it would be tough, she just didn’t expect it to be quite this bad.

Williams finished both Friday sessions bottom of the timesheets and it was more of the same on Saturday in final practice.

George Russell was the fastest of the team’s two drivers but even his 1:25.944 was 1.4s slower than P18, Lando Norris in the McLaren.

As for Robert Kubica, he had an eventful session as he was blocked in the pits by Norris before whacking the wall as he entered the pits later in the session.

Robert Kubica hasn't raced at Albert Park since 2010…

And the pit lane seemed a little narrower than he remembered in FP3 ?#AusGP ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/4Kpy5jfJPd

— Formula 1 (@F1) March 16, 2019

His best time was a 1:26.589.

“It’s not been the start that we hoped for but probably one that we expected,” deputy team boss Williams told Sky Sports F1.

“We knew that it was going to be tough. We knew that it was going to be difficult from the outset.

“I don’t think we thought we were going to be as far off the pace as we are and that is going to be difficult for us to try and claw back.

“But that’s what we do at Williams, we fight and we keep on fighting and we won’t give up until we make changes and to deliver greater performance.

“And we need to do that because we’ve got great drivers in George and Robert.”

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