Williams to miss start of testing

Williams have confirmed they will miss the start of pre-season testing when Test One begins at Barcelona on Monday.

The British team have confirmed the news just hours before the start of the 2019 F1 season. Williams are still preparing their 2019 car and they have now decided to skip at least one of the eight days of scheduled winter testing.

The British giants held a launch event at their Grove headquarters last week but the car remains unfinished, while their rivals will take to the Circuit de Catalunya on Monday afternoon. Mercedes, Red Bull, Haas, Renault, Toro Rosso and Alfa Romeo have already driven their new cars on the track but Williams pair Robert Kubica and George Russell will have to bide their time.

Confirming the news, team boss Claire Williams said in a statement: “Unfortunately we have had to delay the start of our pre-season test to Tuesday morning. “It’s clearly not ideal but equally it’s not the end of the world.

We will obviously have our work cut out to recover the time lost. “We have had an incredibly busy winter at Grove getting the FW42 prepared for the season ahead and, despite everyone’s best efforts, we need some more time before it will be ready to run.

“Our absolute priority is to always ensure we bring a car to the track that is the best that it can be and sometimes that takes longer than you’d anticipate or like.”

Defending champion and Mercedes star Lewis Hamilton remains 1.70 favourite to win the Drivers’ Championship in 2019, with Sebastian Vettel his closest rival at odds of 4.33.