Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/361046
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 10 AUGUST 2014 49 Sport FORMULA 1 WILLIAMS' top brass believe the team's upward curve this season will result in a long-overdue victory soon. The Grove-based marque have re- emerged over the past few months as a force to be reckoned with, scoring 77 points in the last four races. That included a run of three suc- cessive podiums for Valtteri Bottas as the emerging Finn finished third in Austria and runner-up in the two races that followed at Silverstone and Hockenheim. With the car appearing to possess a quicker straight-line speed than the dominant Mercedes, Williams feel their first win since the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix is in the offing, particu- larly at fast tracks Spa and Monza that follow after the current summer break. Deputy team principal Claire Wil- liams said: "The team has done a great job this year to turn everything around, and we're building towards that (a win). "We've still a lot of work to do. Mer- cedes are quite far ahead at the mo- ment. "We closed that gap a little bit in Germany, so it will be exciting to see what we can do moving to Spa and Monza. "I'd like to think the faster circuits will be to our advantage. "Obviously the Mercedes power unit (in the car) has helped to drive our competitiveness this year, so it's absolutely a factor." Rob Smedley, head of vehicle per- formance and a key figure behind the scenes who has played a part in the turnaround in Williams' fortunes, also believes a win at Spa or Monza is "a possibility". Smedley added: "Both of those tracks will suit our car very well, I would have thought, but I've said be- fore, we don't fear anywhere really. "The ambition of the team is obvi- ously to win the world champion- ship, and in order to do that you have to beat everybody. "We know the world championship is a little bit one-sided this year, but that doesn't stop us preparing our- selves for the years to come. "Running at the front and winning races is something this team needs to re-learn how to do. "You saw once we re-learned how to be slick enough to get podiums they kept falling out of the jackpot machine at us." A win is close - Williams Felipe Massa (BRA) Williams FW36 leads Kimi Raikkonen (FIN) Ferrari F14 T and Nico Rosberg (GER) Mercedes AMG F1 W05. Formula One World Championship, Rd11, Hungarian Grand Prix, Race Day, Hungaroring, Hungary. Sunday, 27 July 2014 Kvyat backs Formula 1 safety changes Perez: Force India equal to McLaren TORO Rosso's Daniil Kvyat says it is right that Formula 1 is doing all that it can to improve safety levels. In recent seasons, traditional gravel traps have been gradually replaced by large patches of tarmac run-off in at- tempts to make the sport safer, with the latest modification coming at Monza's famous Parabolica corner. This has led to criticism from pun- dits, fans and certain drivers, but Kvy- at feels the steps being made are vital. "It is often forgotten that the speed taken through the corners has in- creased since the 80s, so if you make a mistake there remains a risk of violently hitting the barriers," Kvyat explained to Italian website Omni- Corse.it. "When you go to 340 km/h and miss the brakes you end up in the wall, even if there is 100 metres of asphalt. "The risk in F1 cannot be erased. And if they had kept the run-off ar- eas as gravel we could see drivers get- ting injured every weekend. So it is right that we do everything we can to improve the safety of the tracks and cars." Certain personalities suggest that the changes have in turn created a field of cautious drivers, with Willi Weber, Michael Schumacher's former manager, going as far as to describe the current generation as "wimps". But Kvyat, contesting his debut campaign, believes that courage will always be a fundamental aspect. "Courage is always an important part of motorsport," he said. "I don't like it when they say that nowadays the drivers don't take risks and that we, in comparison with the 80s, are not real men. All these things are bulls**t." SERGIO Perez says the level of engineering at Force India is equal to his previous Formula 1 team McLaren. The Mexican joined Force In- dia this season after a mixed 2013 campaign with McLaren. As a multiple F1 world champi- on outfit, McLaren is known for its high standard of engineering, but Perez reckons the quality of staff at Siverstone-based Force India is a match for its Woking rival, despite a relative lack of infrastructure and resources. "I think the team itself has great people, big potential, and is very hungry," Perez told the press. "We're always willing for suc- cess and to be at our best, which gives you a lot of motivation. "All of the engineers are top class - the same level as McLaren, and McLaren is rated as having probably the best en- gineers in the sport." Perez thinks Force India's lack of resources can sometimes help the team by forcing it to focus on the basics of racing, rather than getting wrapped up in complex data and engineering. "In a way, things are a lot more simple," Perez added. "They focus purely on per- formance and everyone is [al- ways] trying to maximise eve- rything." Perez has scored mixed re- sults again in the first part of this campaign, the highlight be- ing a podium in April's Bahrain Grand Prix. He reckons Force India would be challenging Williams for fourth in the constructors' championship but for the po- tential points he has lost to a handful of technical issues and on-track incidents. "We, as a team, are doing a good job," he said. "Unfortunately my season so far has been a bit up and down with some technical issues in the beginning of the year. "I lost a race in Malaysia due to that, in some of the qualifying we had problems with electron- ics, and I've had some contact. "In the end I should have at least 20 to 30 points more than what I have right now. "So, there are frustrating things but the positive is the pace we're [consistently] show- ing in the races."