Formula 1: Will Williams score any points in the 2019 season?

After a disastrous 2018 Formula 1 season, the 2019 season is on pace to be even worse for Williams. Will they score any points this year?

The 2018 Formula 1 season was a complete disaster for Williams Martini Racing, which were renamed ROKiT Williams Racing during the offseason between the 2018 and 2019 seasons when Martini’s title sponsorship deal with the team ran out and ROKiT signed on as their new title sponsor.

Since arriving in Formula 1 in the 1977 season, Williams had never finished outside of the top nine in the constructor standings entering the 2018 season. That changed in the 2018 season when they finishing in 10th (last) with just seven points as a result of a combined three top 10 finishes by their two drivers, Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin.

Stroll recorded an eighth place finish and a ninth place finish to score six points while Sirotkin recorded only a 10th place finish to score just one point.

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It would seem as though the only way for the Grove-based team to go at this point is up. But that may not be the case, as their start to the 2019 season illustrated absolutely no potential for them whatsoever.

The team’s two drivers for this season, George Russell and Robert Kubica, finished the season opener, the Australian Grand Prix, in 16th and 17th place, respectively. Three of the 20 drivers who started the race failed to finish it, so the Williams teammates were effectively the lowest finishing drivers of it. They were the only two drivers who finished the race multiple laps off the lead lap. Russell finished two laps off the lead lap while Kubica finished three laps off the lead lap. Six drivers finished on the lead lap while nine drivers finished one lap off the lead lap.

This disastrous result for the team took place after an equally horrendous qualifying session for them. Russell and Kubica qualified for the race in 19th and 20th place, respectively.

Kubica’s top lap time around the 16-turn, 3.296-mile (5.304-kilometer) Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit in Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia, which was 86.067 seconds (137.865 miles per hour), was farther behind the top lap time of McLaren’s Carlos Sainz Jr., who qualified in 18th (ahead of only Russell and Kubica) with a top lap time of 83.084 seconds (142.815 miles per hour), than Sainz Jr.’s top lap time was behind the top lap time of Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport’s Lewis Hamilton, who took the pole position for the race with a track record lap time of 80.486 seconds (147.424 miles per hour).

Is there any chance that Williams can make the necessary improvements, preferably in both qualifying sessions and races themselves, so that they can score at least one point this year with at least one top 10 finish?

Not at all.

A top 10 finish for either Russell or Kubica would literally require a nine-car pileup in turn one that they manage to avoid, and a double top 10 finish for the team would require a 10-car pileup in turn one that they manage to avoid. It’s that simple.

And it isn’t going to happen.

With how things are going right now, there is absolutely no chance that either one or both of the Williams teammates will finish ahead of more than half of the rest of the field in any race this season. None.

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Do you believe that Williams will score any points in the 2019 Formula 1 season? If so, how many points do you believe they will score, and what will the highest finishing position by either George Russell or Robert Kubica in an individual race be throughout the year? What will the highest finishing position by either of their drivers be this year if they do not score any points?

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