Williams Formula 1 German GP update "extraordinary" effort

Williams has brought a steady stream of updates to recent races in a bid to improve the balance and stability of the 2019 car, with George Russell describing the situation as making "two steps back before we made three steps forward".

After a rocky opening to the start of 2019, Williams has finally been able to start putting upgrades on its FW42 in its pursuit of closing the gap to the rest of the field.

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At Silverstone, the team had reshuffled its turning vanes, breaking the bridge between the vertical and horizontal sections to change how the airflow washes down the sidepods.

The team has now added a significant further step to its aerodynamic package for Hockenheim by completely overhauling the bargeboards in search of further gains, pictured above.

The top edge now features a number of serrations to actively draw airflow from the suspension components and sending it around the sidepod.

This is augmented with an in-vogue 'boomerang', which provides more options in managing the airflow coming off of the front wheels.

A new floor has also been added to the car, featuring longitudinal slots along the edge which make their way to the very rear corner, replacing the diagonal cuts to give the airflow a stronger opportunity to wash outwards.

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Deputy team principal Williams said she hoped that the upgrades would move Williams towards the midfield runners.

"From the start of the season, the gap to P9 was 1.5 seconds and that is a huge amount to have to close down in the course of one season," she said.

"A lot of teams wouldn't find 1.5s over the course of one year so, at the start, it was about not seeing that gap get any bigger and seeing some small gains.

"I am pleased that we have made perhaps bigger gains than we ever anticipated we could.

"We have to wait and see what this new performance brings us, and we could be sat here tomorrow night going 'oops', but I hope that is not the case.

"After that, we will be able to judge what we can do for the balance of the year, but I hope it does make us - or propels us - back in to the fight, because the drivers want to be fighting the other teams.

"We have had a few scraps this year in the last few races with the Haas, but we want to be in the mix in the midfield and that is the work going on this year. But it is no mean feat trying to find two seconds of performance."

Williams also praised the team's "considerable effort" to bring the updates that Robert Kubica will trial in Friday free practice before both cars are fitted with them from the start of Saturday.

George Russell said he was optimistic "that this weekend will be the first time we've seen a small step forward".