Despite ending with his team pair George Russel at the last positions in FP2, Robert Kubica feels more optimistic over the Williams FW42. The polish driver affirmed that the car has improved since the last Grand Prix in Bahrain.

"The car feels a bit different to the last two weekends, so that's a good sign," said Kubica.

He added that the balance of the car seems slightly better, underlining how the car is responding well to the last changes.

"Now we have to see the data, what to do, as the balance is quite different to the previous two events.

"We just did some changes just to understand and it's not that we have some improvement.

"It's just something we changed in the characteristics of the car and it seems like it's responding differently.”

Nevertheless, the understeer of the FW42 remains a major concern for Robert Kubica, who does not expect to enhance its performance in the next two days.

"If we haven't done anything to turn it around in the last two months, there'll be nothing happening in 12 hours," he said.

Similarly, George Russell remarked how Williams is approaching the rest of the grid, indicating how Williams seems to be closer to Racing Point than before.

“I think there were a few positives," said the Briton.

"The long run pace was fairly decent compared to Racing Point. We definitely as a team seem closer, so again that's positive and all going in the right direction."

The rookie, asked whether the improvements are due to the new components or a better understanding of the car, pointed out that both the factors are impacting the actual performance of the FW42.

"We've got a couple of little new bits. I'd probably say it's a bit of both,” replied Russell.

"Everybody is understanding the car, but I think we probably didn't optimise it as much as everybody else in the previous two races.

"So I think we are just getting more out of it."