Williams team principal James Vowles has admitted the team is not extracting the full potential of its FW47 due to the persistent cooling problems it has encountered this year.<\/p>\n
Both drivers have been affected by the problem during races this year. Alexander Albon<\/a> retired from two consecutive races due to technical problems earlier this year, including in Austria where he ran as high as sixth in the early stages.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve obviously been hindered by this cooling issue that\u2019s been there for a few races this year,\u201d said Vowles in a video released by the team, \u201cbut probably more marked in the Austria retirement when we were running in a very strong position.\u201d<\/p>\n Williams conducted a test during the first practice session for the British Grand Prix to gather more information on the problem. Vowles said they are not able to reduce the overheating without compromising the car\u2019s pace at the moment.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have solutions in place that mean we can get the car through the race but it\u2019s at the cost of performance,\u201d he said. \u201cIdeally what we\u2019re looking for is containment that allows us to make sure we\u2019re not throwing away anything in terms of performance going forward and the team is working diligently on that.\u201d<\/p>\n The team\u2019s cars were less competitive in the wet phases of the race at Silverstone. Vowles said the team has a minor upgrade coming for this weekend\u2019s round at Spa-Francorchamps<\/a> \u2013 where there will be only a single practice session \u2013 but he believes they can extract more from the package they already have.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we\u2019re observing recently is that we\u2019re definitely able to have a strong race car. Right at the end of the race when it dried up [\u2026] the car was quick. But we weren\u2019t quick enough in those intermediate conditions when it was wet and we weren\u2019t quick enough in qualifying which are two areas we absolutely have to work on and improve as we go forward. <\/p>\n