Paddy Lowe has dismissed allegations that Robert Kubica proved faster than Williams' regular drivers in pre-season testing in Barcelona, calling into question their race seats with the British team.
As the Grove-based outfit prepared for the new season along with its rivals at the Circuit de Catalunya last week, many eyes were on Kubica to see how the team's reserve driver would perform compared to Lance Stroll and new recruit Sergey Sirotkin behind the wheel of the team's new FW41.
After the 33-year-old's flawless contribution to Williams' test programmes, and the demonstration of his speed, speculation emerged that the Pole would be moving up to the race team sooner rather than later.
Lowe quickly rubbished the rumors however, and the question they brought to the fore.
"I don't want to answer that question", quipped the Williams engineer.
"I find that it's simply not worthy of an answer," he said.
The team is committed to its line-up, as inexperienced and youthful as it may be, with Lowe hailing the intelligence of newcomer Sirotkin, who will be a better benchmark for the teenager Stroll, according to the Williams technical director and partner.
"Lance is still very young but already on a completely different level to twelve months ago," said Lowe who says Sirotkin's arrival puts Stroll's place "in a different context".
"It was almost too difficult for him to think 'My job is to be as strong as Felipe (Massa)'," Lowe added.
Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
