Williams not dwelling on low points of 2012 Formula 1 campaign

The Grove-based outfit had been briefly touted as a dark horse for the championship after Pastor Maldonado's victory at Barcelona, but since then the team has had a disappointing time which has yielded just 10 points in six races.

Although conceding that it has let good opportunities slip through its grasp, Gillan thinks that Williams needs to put its performances this year in the context of its worst ever Formula 1 campaign in 2011.

"It has been a bit of a rollercoaster season, hasn't it?" Gillan told AUTOSPORT. "But I have to go back to where we were last year, because none of us should forget that and certainly in the team we don't.

"We currently have ten times the points we had at the end of last year and, as a team, we know that we should be always aiming to finish in the points - which means qualifying in the top 10. There is no reason why we cannot do that.

"If we don't do that, then it is disappointing. We got both cars in to Q3 for the first time in Hungary, even though we were a little bit disappointed as we felt that there was maybe more to be had.

"Bruno [Senna] did a really good job all weekend, and Pastor will be as disappointed as we are. But we still are very pleased with the results this season and how the team is doing. We had our fastest pitstop ever too - sub three seconds - so the guys have done a very good job and it is a great boost for them."

Although Maldonado's race in Hungary was wrecked by a poor start and a drive-through penalty for colliding with Paul di Resta, team-mate Senna delivered what Gillan believes was his best weekend of the year so far.

"Bruno had his strongest weekend by a long way," he explained. "Even before the race he was very strong through free practice. In qualifying, maybe he didn't quite get the lap that he was hoping for in Q3, but in the race he made a good start, he had a very strong pace and did a very good job at the end defending his position. For us, we are really pleased."