“Everybody has worked throughout and pushed the boundaries”

After five crashes in two race weekends, the task facing Williams Racing to get set for the final triple-header was enormous.

From the second the cars arrived back at Grove several days after the São Paulo GP, the team worked around the clock to rebuild and reassemble them, ready for the Las Vegas GP weekend.

In an exclusive behind-the-scenes video, Chief Mechanic Ben Howard guided us through an intense week at our Oxfordshire HQ.

“So we’re here, Thursday, the week before the next event,” Ben shared from the Race Bays. “Everything came back last Thursday night, early Friday morning.

“We’ve had a massive weekend, then from yesterday onwards, we’ve started to receive some new parts and serviced parts through.

“We got the chassis back out of composites last night, all freshly painted with new bits that have all been done.

“The guys in composites have worked all night on that to get that chassis ready, and now the car is in the race bay.”

Earlier in the week, Ben had shared how he’d never seen a weekend like it during his 15 years with the team, but the response to the setback has left him incredibly proud.

“It’s been crazy. After last week, it was a bit daunting with all the parts, all of the damaged stuff and everything, and was it realistic to get everything ready?

“I have to say it’s been amazing. The bits have turned up in abundance, we’ve got spares, and everybody has worked throughout and pushed the boundaries.

“I think we’re going to turn up in Vegas in a better state than we did [for the] last event, so credit is due to everybody.

“No one has backed off, it’s been flat out and busy, but we’re looking good and we’re in a good state.”