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Williams can still succeed in the 2018 Formula 1 campaign with Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin as driver inexperience is no longer a handicap, says 1992 world champion Nigel Mansell.
Sirotkin and Stroll are the youngest pairing on the F1 grid, with a combined age of 41 – which is three years older than Kimi Raikkonen.
Williams signed Robert Kubica as its development and reserve driver, with the aim of using his experience to provide support to the drivers and push car development.
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Mansell said that while having an inexperienced line-up in previous years would have been challenging, modern day F1 cars are easier to drive and therefore it is less of an issue.
“In years gone by, without the computer aids, I’d be concerned by two young drivers in the team,” Mansell, who was a star guest at last weekend’s Autosport International show, told Autosport.
“That is not so much the case now with so many support engineers and so much information.
“A Formula 1 car, until it is handed over to the driver at a certain speed, drives itself now. So they will get a lot of support.
“I hope if the car is good that there’ll be some races where they can shine. I hope they don’t fall down the grid.”
Kubica will conduct extensive simulator testing alongside on-track duties that will extend to pre-season and in-season testing plus some appearances in Friday practice sessions at grands prix.
Mansell said Sirotkin and Stroll can learn a lot from working with 2008 Canadian Grand Prix winner Kubica, who was tipped as a future world champion before his rallying accident, this season.
“It depends how much experience a driver has got of winning and competing at a high level,” said Mansell.
“Competing at a high level is one thing, winning at a high level is another thing.
“I find it interesting having been team-mates with world champions and working with all of them closely, you tend to learn an awful lot real quick.
“You have more insight. It always interests me to get someone else’s perspective.”