Lack of spare parts to hinder Williams again in Bahrain

Robert Kubica says a lack of spare parts will once again hinder Williams through this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix as the team’s difficult start to the Formula 1 season looks set to continue.

Delays in the build of the new Williams FW42 car forced the team to miss the first two-and-a-half days of pre-season testing, before arriving at the opening race of the year with a lack of spare parts.

Kubica finished three laps down on race winner Valtteri Bottas in Australia, but was left struggling for much of the weekend due to damage on his car despite trying to avoid the kerbs.

Two weeks later, Williams still has a spare parts shortage, with Kubica anticipating another difficult race weekend as a result.

“It’s not an easy situation from driver point of view, because we will be limited with spare parts and everything,” Kubica said.

“Looking what happened to me in Australia on Friday in FP1. Going onto the kerb, I got a damaged floor, and we didn’t have bits to replace it and it affected me probably all weekend.

“You have to have a safe approach, but still as I said we have to try and do my best, make sure I’m doing my best.”

Kubica said the lack of spare parts was another headache for the team to deal with on top of the lack of performance in the FW42 car.

“You cannot go over the kerbs - or you can go over the kerbs, but the risk is that the car will fall apart and then you have no parts to fit them,” Kubica said.

“It is already having difficult performance, or lacking performance and we are adding another factor which is complicating our lives.

“But I know in the factory, everybody’s working hard so we just need a bit more time to fix the issue.”

Additional reporting by Haydn Cobb.