Williams to wait before addressing Massa future

Williams is determined to focus on improving its performance for the remainder of the 2017 season and will save contract discussions with Felipe Massa for later.

The 36-year-old Brazilian, who had initially decided to retire from F1 at the end of the last year before returning to Williams when Valtteri Bottas moved to Mercedes, says he has been enjoying his racing in F1's new-spec cars, and has expressed a will to stay on for 2018.

Claire Williams won't rush in to any decisions however, believing the current campaign requires all of the Grove-based outfit's energy and focus. 

"Felipe has done a fantastic job, it’s been a bonus year for us. He very kindly came back and he’s really delivered for us," said Williams deputy team principal.

"Obviously the past couple of races have been tough for him with his medical issue [in Hungary] but we’re through that now and we’re looking forward to him delivering for the rest of the year and we really just have to wait and see."

• Williams: 'We can't have another year like this'

Williams is 58 points adrift from Force India in the Constructors' standings and while catching its rival is a tall order, Williams will likely have to fend off a couple of aggressive chasers behind.

"I think I’ve made it really clear that the team at the moment are focusing on the constructors’ championship, we need to make sure that we consolidate our P5," says Claire Williams.

"I don’t think we’re going to close the gap to [Force India], unfortunately, but there’s a lot of teams behind us that would love to overtake us and take that P5 and we can’t afford that.

"So for us the focus really has to be on track performance at the moment rather than diluting that effort with thoughts about driver line-up.

"There’s still eight races to go, there’s plenty of time to be thinking about next year."

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