Williams will not rush driver decision

Williams will not rush a decision about its vacant seat for 2018 despite Felipe Massa wanting to know his future before the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Lance Stroll is already confirmed at Williams for next season but the team has yet to confirm who will partner the teenager, with Massa out of contract at the end of the year. Robert Kubica is one of the favorites for the seat, while Paul di Resta also tested a 2014 car alongside the Pole in Hungary last week, and Paddy Lowe says the team will take its time over making a call.

"We are in a fortunate position of not really being pressed for time," Lowe said. "[Before Brazil] would make sense but I don't think we have committed to one thing or another. The priority for Williams, which we owe to ourselves and employees and partners, is to make the best driver selection we can based on performance for our 2018 line-up. That is what we are doing."

Speaking specifically about the Hungary test for Kubica and di Resta, Lowe (pictured above) says the outing doesn't mean they are the only two drivers in the frame.

"We haven't had any shootouts... we ran two days in Hungary without any problems and we were evaluating a couple of drivers which will feed into our driver process selection for next year," Lowe said. "Our consideration of drivers remains completely open, including Felipe who is high in our considerations among a range of drivers. It is not just to who has test in the car."

When Pascal Wehrlein's name was put to Lowe, he replied: "Somebody like Pascal I do not need to put in a car because he is in a car every week."

Wehrlein's age was previously thought to be a problem for Williams as it currently has Martini as its title sponsor, which would require a driver over the age of 25 to do promotional work in certain markets. However, Lowe says Martini would prioritize performance over age when the team makes its final decision.

"I think what is most important for the team is to pick a driver line-up that will give us the best performance and the most exciting racing potential for 2018. There are some issues with advertising and Martini but if it came to it I'm sure Martini would understand the importance, if that is what we wanted, to choose to have the best line-up for racing over advertising.

"We will cross that bridge if we have to. All potential drivers, we are not ruling out any of them yet. Age is not a factor in our primary objective of picking the best performing ones."