Williams is just “one percent” away from being able to win races, according to chief technical officer Pat Symonds.

Following a period of decline, Williams bounced back in 2014 to become the nearest challenger to Mercedes on a number of circuits but failed to win a race as Mercedes took 16 victories and Red Bull three. This season, Williams has remained a consistent podium challenger but failed to close the gap to the leaders.

Symonds says Williams needs to find an extra one percent with its car to be able to win races but also warns the team is still not at its best operationally to be able to take every chance which comes its way.

“I want to be winning – there is no point in doing anything else,” Symonds told the official Formula One website. “Where are we from winning? We are, in raw performance terms, about one percent off from where we need to be.

“Operationally we are still a little bit immature [too]. Mercedes have a pretty good team – not without mistakes as we have seen in Monaco – but under pressure mistakes can happen. We are not quite where I want us to be operation-wise.

“So all I want is over one percent more on raw performance – and a very slick operation.”

Felipe Massa’s third place at the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday was Williams’ third podium of the season.