BAKU – Robert
Kubica and George Russell will demonstrate the defiance and resilience of the
Williams team on Sunday when they line up on the grid for Sunday’s Azerbaijan
Grand Prix with the struggling outfit adamant that they are not for sale.
After two
high-speed incidents, one on Friday that saw British rookie Russell survive
running over a loose drainage cover that wrecked his car and one on Saturday
when Kubica crashed into a wall, the struggling outfit were left flattened.
Deputy team
principal Claire Williams, daughter of founder Frank Williams, admitted as much
when on Saturday she also had to reject renewed claims that her family were set
to sell their former champion team.
“It’s one
thing after another at the moment. I saw those stories, I paid little attention
to them,” she said, dismissing reports that Russian businessman Dmitri Mazepin
was set to make a bid.
“I haven’t
met Mr Mazepin to talk about that. We had a brief conversation in the mid-part
of last year, but subsequent to that there have been no conversations.
“I’d just
like to be really categorical about it: Williams is not for sale. I have no
intention of putting Williams up for sale. I don’t see why we would.”
Robert Kubica, "At this track you pay a high price for a relatively small mistake." Check out our round-up of Saturday's #AzerbaijanGP action.
— ROKiT WILLIAMS RACING (@WilliamsRacing) April 27, 2019
The team
lost its title sponsor Martini when their deal ended last year and has no
backing this year from Canadian businessman Lawrence Stroll, whose son Lance
Stroll has left and moved to Racing Point.
But it has
a new sponsorship deal with Rokit telecommunications and some support from the
Polish sponsors of Kubica, who on Saturday walked away after a big accident at
Turn Eight, a sharp corner by the Baku castle, when he plunged into the
barriers.
In a
statement, the team said it would repair the car in time to race on Sunday.
“I clipped
the inside with the front left which pushed me into the wall,” said
Kubica.
“It’s the
worst place and unfortunately I paid quite a high price. That’s how it is.”
Kubica went
to the medical centre.
“It’s not a
huge impact, but of course they had to, for precautions, do all the tests. I
feel good so no problem.”
Russell was
able to take part in Saturday’s action after the team used their only spare
chassis to build him a car.
Williams
was defiant.
“This is
what we do. We don’t have anything else to do so it is not on the market. I don’t
want to sell to anybody.
“I want to
go out and prove that we can do what we are in this sport to do -- and that’s
to get back on the podium and to win races again.
“That may
take us a long time, but it took Frank more than 10 years to do it when he
first started in this sport and I’m sure we’ll have a lot more stuff thrown our
way.
“But you
don’t give up when times get tough. For me it’s a test of your character that
you continue and prove to everybody that you can do it.”