Williams' Paddy Lowe admits that working with a team racing at the tail end of the field has led to a series of entirely new challenges for the British engineer.
Lowe's impressive career in Formula 1, which started with Williams in 1987, has been well chronicled and includes multiple world titles won with the Grove-based outfit, McLaren and Mercedes.
His return to his roots at Williams in early 2017 has not gone according to plan, and has led to him working in unfamiliar territory.
"I've been fortunate in my career not to work in a team that wasn't or within reach of the front, performance wise," Lowe told GrandPrix247.
"That's where we were always playing. In the top ten, towards the front end of the top ten or at the very front.
"So it's a new experience for me which has a lot of work to do to get back to where we want to be.
"So that creates some new challenges for me personally. I'm learning all the time."
Lowe and engineering team made some bold choices when they designed this year's FW41. Unfortunately, the car has been a massive disappointment, and pushed Williams down the order.
"Some things you get right. Some things, if I looked back, I could do differently," Lowe explained.
"But that's the nature of life, you face challenges and you learn from them. And, you hope that builds your experience to do a better job next time."
The FW41's latest weakness is centered around its rear wing, and how it interacts with the car's floor generating catastrophic aerodynamic "stalls".
The appendage was designed as part of an upgrade package destined to improve the Fw41's performance. While it has all gone the wrong way, Lowe is confident however the problem will be understood and ultimately solved.
"I don't think there is anything sort of fundamentally wrong with this rear wing," explained Lowe.
"It is something in the way everything has been put together, it is a combination, that is causing some strange phenomenon.
"We don't have the answer right now, no. We want to do some more evaluations."
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