No extra Friday sessions for Kubica - Lowe

Paddy Lowe has admitted Williams’ young driver lineup is a challenge amid the team’s big current problems.

The once-great British team’s technical boss said even Williams engineers were caught by surprise by the extent of the 2018 car’s issues early this year.

"Everyone in the field has their problems, but we have bigger ones," he is quoted by Auto Motor und Sport.

Deputy boss Claire Williams said the car has three main issues, but declined to name them.

"We don’t really like airing our dirty linen in public at Williams," she said.

But one of them may be drivers. Already with 19-year-old pay-driver Lance Stroll at the team, Williams was criticised for pairing him with rookie Sergey Sirotkin.

"Having two young drivers doesn’t make the task easier when the car doesn’t work," Lowe admitted.

Former F1 driver Timo Glock agrees that Williams’ drivers are an issue.

"They may be fast, but it’s also important to develop a car in the right direction," he told Speed Week.

"They had big problems all weekend in Bahrain and didn’t get on top of them at all. They lack experience," Glock added.

One option might be to oust one of them in favour of the experienced Robert Kubica, or at least give the Polish reserve driver more Friday practice outings than are already scheduled.

Lowe doesn’t think so.

"Then we would be taking away important track time for Sergey. But he needs every kilometre," he said.

Lowe said the important thing now is for Williams to not panic.

"It would be wrong to become depressed," he insisted. "Only if we work purposefully can we reverse the trend."