Felipe Massa says the development race shown by Williams last season “was one of the most exciting elements to the car”.

Having started 2014 with a competitive car, Williams face numerous questions on whether it had the resources to keep pace with the likes of Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren in developing the car. Ultimately, the team even closed the gap on Mercedes across the year as Massa finished the final race just three seconds behind Lewis Hamilton, and the Brazilian says he wants the team to continue that form.

“The momentum we carry from last year has been very encouraging, the team has changed so much from 12 months ago and it is clear to see everyone is heading in a good direction,” Massa said. “The development rate of the FW36 was one of the most exciting elements to the car, the team worked exceptionally hard throughout the year to make sure that we had a faster car at each race, and I look forward to a similarly impressive car this year."

Deputy team principal Claire Williams said maintaining that development rate was one of the team’s goals for the coming season.

“We have worked hard over the past six months to get this car ready, but it is in no way the final product, we have a lot of work to do throughout the season as we push for constant improvements in performance,” Williams said.

Follow Jerez testing live here

Click here for the gallery of the second day of testing at Jerez

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.

Recent Posts

Williams' headaches persist into Vegas practice

Williams is continuing to fight uphill battles this weekend in Las Vegas as a knock-on…

39 mins ago

Ferrari's Sainz 'not satisfied with where we are' in Vegas

It was a solid start to the Las Vegas weekend for Ferrari with Carlos Sainz…

2 hours ago

Norris labels McLaren long-run pace ‘shocking’ in chilly Vegas

Lando Norris didn’t hold back in his assessment of McLaren’s performance on the opening day…

3 hours ago

Hamilton delighted with ‘consistently strong day’ in Vegas

Lewis Hamilton was particularly happy with his opening day of running at the Las Vegas…

4 hours ago

Verstappen stuck with 'draggy' rear wing for Vegas

Red Bull fears that its prospects for this weekend's Las Vegas Grand Prix - which…

5 hours ago

Ferrari and Mercedes admit to plank changes based on FIA’s TD

Ferrari and Mercedes have both modified their car’s floor element in Las Vegas to comply…

6 hours ago