Williams say they're not in a position to win races in 2015

Williams’ chief technical officer Pat Symonds says the team are not in a position to win races this season.

After a dismal 2013, the Grove team showed dramatic improvement last year and Felipe Massa was the only non-Mercedes driver to secure a pole position all season when he topped qualifying in Austria.

However, Williams were unable to convert their improved performances into victories and have still only won one race since 2004.

Having been Mercedes nearest challengers in 2014, Williams appear to have slipped backwards this season, with Ferrari now the Silver Arrows' main rival.

“Are we in that position [to win races]? No we are not,” Symonds told Sky Sports F1.

“In 2015 we have a couple of teams, one of which is significantly in front of us and the other is the one which has put itself in the position of picking up the pieces when things go wrong.

“Interestingly, last year we probably were in the right position. But on the three occasions when Mercedes did fail it happened to be Red Bull that picked up the pieces. It could just as easily have been Williams."

However, while Symonds isn’t predicting any short-term success, he is convinced Williams are moving in the right direction for the long-term.

“That is not a position we want to be in, it is not a position we want to go racing in, we want to be racing at the front and we want to be racing for wins so that is what our long term strategy is based around," he continued.

“I think we can be quite successful at it because we have thought it through quite carefully. It is not a sort of random thing of let’s go racing and see what happens. We have plans in place which I believe will improve our competitiveness and will give us the wins.”