Williams won't 'apportion blame' for embarrassing FW42 delay

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Williams deputy team principal Claire Williams won't play the blame game and point the finger at any one individual responsible for the "embarrassing" delay in getting the team's FW42 up and running.

Williams' 2019 charger suffered a production set back that saw the car make its track debut for pre-season testing only on Wednesday afternoon in Barcelona, with George Russell at the wheel..

According to reports, the FW42's hold-up was related to a possible design flaw requiring certain components to be redesigned, as well as poor production scheduling and to delays with external suppliers.

Lowe feeling the load after Williams testing no-show

The delay obviously put the spotlight on Williams technical director Paddy Lowe, but Claire Williams refused to single out any member or department of her team.

"I haven’t paid too much attention to it [the speculation], to be honest with you," Williams told Sky Sports F1.

"There is always a lot of speculation in these circumstances.

"But we don’t apportion any blame at Williams, that’s the not the name of the game and not what you need to be focusing your energy on.

"It’s about us all clubbing together and making sure we understand why we were unable to deliver the car and do that after-action review and learn from the mistakes."

Williams would not reveal the specific reasons behind the FW42's delay, believing a series of factors came together to undermine the car's timely introduction.

"It’s probably a number of things," she added.

"We don’t want to really go into the detail of how. We just need to do our analysis and the most important thing now is that we have got this car here.

"We can now spend a little bit of time looking at what went wrong.

"Clearly we know the main culprits…not the main culprits, but the main elements to why we are delayed.

"But we don’t want to discuss that and we are not going to be airing our dirty laundry in public.

"It’s not appropriate. We have got to do a full analysis now back at the factory and make sure this never happens again."

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Phillip van Osten

Motor racing was a backdrop from the outset in Phillip van Osten's life. Born in Southern California, Phillip grew up with the sights and sounds of fast cars thanks to his father, Dick van Osten, an editor and writer for Auto Speed and Sport and Motor Trend. Phillip's passion for racing grew even more when his family moved to Europe and he became acquainted with the extraordinary world of Grand Prix racing. He was an early contributor to the monthly French F1i Magazine, often providing a historic or business perspective on Formula 1's affairs. In 2012, he co-authored along with fellow journalist Pierre Van Vliet the English-language adaptation of a limited edition book devoted to the great Belgian driver Jacky Ickx. He also authored "The American Legacy in Formula 1", a book which recounts the trials and tribulations of American drivers in Grand Prix racing. Phillip is also a commentator for Belgian broadcaster Be.TV for the US Indycar series.