Not the best weekend so far for Williams in Spain.

“We came out of yesterday having a tough day and after FP3 this morning we could see we made improvements, we were feeling a bit more comfortable, but we were pretty unsure of whether we can get out of Q1 or not, which I think was right cause we out qualified Raikkonen but not Giovinazzi.” explained Dave Robson.

While Russell put his car in P15 right behind Antonio Giovinazzi’s Alfa, Latifi will be starting in P19 tomorrow, in the middle of the two Haas.

“We felt we had to run three sets of new quali tyres on both cars in Q1,” he said.

The difference lays in that “George wanted to get the feel for the conditions, for the tyre warm-up” while “Nicholas chose to do the full lap”.

“But yeah, the consequence of that is when we get to Q2, which we just did with George, then there's no new tyres left other than option tyres.”

Talking about Alfa Romeo’s performance out on track this afternoon for Quali, he shared:

“I think we were pretty confident they just weren’t quick for one lap on this circuit, unlike in Portugal.”

“I think Giovinazzi proved that he was quite slow when he ran that new option beginning in Q2. So, yeah, that was it, really. We thought we'd struggle to get out Q1. I think that was probably right.”

Robson also looked back to the struggles the team faced last week during the race in Portimão, after a brilliant qualifying session.

“I think, to be honest, a lot of it was just that we had done a good job on Saturday and we were there on merit in P11. But I think a lot of that was just down to doing a good job with the tyres.”

“I mean, I think it was only the Haas and the Alfa that we beat both cars. I think the rest of the places we got was picking off teammates who struggled. So we did a good job on Saturday and we just couldn't have known that the car wasn't easy in the wind. And following the other cars, I think that was it. That was a challenge.”

“I'd like to think tomorrow we've qualified in a slightly more realistic position and fighting off some of it is going to be very difficult. I think I'm more hopeful that tomorrow we can look forward. I think last week, every Sunday was a struggle because Saturday was good, fortunately.”