Williams to miss start of F1 testing in Barcelona

Williams has confirmed it will miss the start of Formula 1 pre-season testing in Barcelona on Monday due to delays preparing its new car.

After cancelling a planned filming day this weekend due to delays in getting the new FW42 car ready, Williams issued a statement on Sunday in which it confirmed that it would not be taking part in test running on Monday.

Deputy team principal Claire Williams said the team would be delaying the FW42's debut until Tuesday morning.

"Unfortunately, we have had to delay the start of our pre-season Barcelona test to Tuesday morning," confirmed Williams.

"We have had an incredibly busy winter at Grove getting the FW42 prepared for the season ahead and, despite everyone’s best efforts, we need some more time before it will be ready to run.

“Our absolute priority is to always ensure we bring a car to the track that is the best that it can be and sometimes that takes longer than you’d anticipate or like. It’s clearly not ideal, but equally it’s not the end of the world.

“We will obviously have our work cut out to recover the time lost but we still have seven days of testing left and we will be maximising that time to prepare the car for the first race.”

More to follow.