Lowe: Two-second gap 'exciting' for Williams

Paddy Lowe has described the two-second gap between Williams and the front of the field as "exciting" as he looks to move the team closer to race wins.

The former Mercedes executive director (technical) joined Williams at the start of this season and as a result has gone from fighting for championships to a battle for fourth place in the constructors' standings. Sochi was a circuit that suited Williams as Felipe Massa qualified sixth, splitting the two Red Bulls but ending Q3 some two seconds slower than Sebastian Vettel's pole position time.

Asked how long it may take to close such a margin given stability in the regulations, Lowe replied: "Well we're definitely hoping to show that it's a short-term effect.

"No, it's a big number to try and close. Obviously that's one of our jobs to analyze and address in the coming months. You might think it's quite scary but I actually find it quite exciting, because for me it's an exciting number to go after – how we are going to find two seconds?

"It exists. They're working to the same rule set, so that's a real challenge to understand and go after. I find that pretty exciting."

While personally relishing the challenge of trying to find time with the new generation of cars, Lowe says there should be no surprise that the field has spread out as a result of new regulations even if he wasn't expecting such a margin.

"I have to say it seems like a bigger gap than you would have expected or hoped for. You'll get me onto regulation changes and what were their reasons... It is a fact that when you change regulations, you tend to spread the grid, and as regulations become more stable and older, the grid closes up. So one of the first casualties of regulation changes [is] bigger differences down the grid."

Having only joined Williams at the start of the season, Lowe says the biggest impact he has been able to have relates to reassuring the team it is on the right path.

"I think the first thing is just to give a reference and direction to the team, confidence to the team. A lot of times, teams are doing good stuff, but because they don't feel like they're making progress, they may not have the confidence that they're doing the right thing.

"The advantage I have coming from a team that's been winning races is to be able to say, 'Yeah, what we're doing here is the right thing, let's do more of it,' or, 'Here and there there's a gap we can fill in.' A lot of that is just about that reference that the leadership at that level, so I think that's the most immediate thing."