Williams – Bahrain Grand Prix Review

Q&A WITH SAM MICHAEL, TECHNICAL DIRECTOR

Q: Did the performance of the FW32 match your pre-season expectations?
SM: We had quite a few issues to sort out in the days leading up to the Grand Prix and it became apparent early on that we would have some fire-fighting to do in the build-up to the race to ensure we finished on Sunday. Because of that, we had three or four things on the FW32 in Bahrain that we couldn’t change quickly. Most of those elements can be corrected over the next couple of races and that should offer a good step in performance.

Q: Rubens set the sixth fastest lap of the race. Does that give us an indication of the car’s true potential?
SM: Not really. When Rubens set that time he actually had some damage on his car. We expect to be stronger in forthcoming races.

Q: How did the tyres hold up during the race, particularly during the early stages when the car was at its heaviest?
SM: Tyres weren’t a problem. The option was the strongest tyre throughout the race. The prime was good, but it offered less grip.

Q: Did the team have any reliability problems during the course of the weekend?
SM: Yes. We had some issues during practice but, through a huge amount of effort and late nights put in by the team’s mechanics, we managed to keep them contained.

Q: Were you pleased with the performance of the Cosworth engine?
SM: Yes. The engine is good and the crew in Northampton have done an exceptional job in a short space of time.

Q: How did Nico handle his race debut?
SM: Nico handled himself well. He was quick throughout practice, but then he made a small, but time costly, mistake in qualifying. He then had a bit of a messy race. Nico is a smart guy who’s developing a great relationship with his engineers, Tom McCullough and Andrew Murdoch, and I know he’ll deliver.

Williams – Bahrain Grand Prix Practice

Sam Michael, Technical Director
“It was a very busy day with the usual teething problems. We lost some track time due to an electrics problem in the garage in the morning and we also had minor technical issues to resolve on the cars. We then had a much more productive afternoon looking at race set-ups and qualifying preparation. We have more work to do, but nothing that looks unachievable. It has been a marathon effort from everyone at Williams and Cosworth to get us to this stage and soon the hard work will start to pay off.

Nico Hulkenberg
“It’s still very difficult to form a picture of where everyone is at competitively, but I am satisfied that we had a relatively good day today and managed to compete everything we set out to do. The ambition remains the same, to make sure we get through to Q3 and to finish the weekend with some points.”

Rubens Barrichello
“Because we had some minor issues in the garage today, we didn’t get as much track time as we wanted. We didn’t manage to finish our programme, but I am confident tomorrow will be a better day and we will catch up on the lost time. There has been an enormous amount of work and effort from everyone at Williams to get this far, which deserves my thanks.”

AT&T Williams Barcelona Test Report Day Three

DAY 3 OF 4
Circuit:  Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona 4.655km
Objective: Set-up work & long run evaluations with the FW32
Weather: Intermittent rain in the morning, dry afternoon
Average ambient temperature: 12°C

Pos Driver Team Best Time Total Laps
1  N Rosberg Mercedes GP 1:20.686 128
2 S Buemi Toro Rosso 1:21.413 106
3 J Button McLaren 1:21.450 106
4 R Barrichello AT&T Williams 1:21.975 101
5 F Massa Ferrari 1:22.344 115
6 V Petrov Renault F1 1:22.523 68
7 A Sutil Force India 1:22.606 61
8 S Vettel Red Bull Racing 1:23.123 51
9 J Trulli Lotus GP 1:25.059 102
10 K Kobayashi BMW Sauber 1:26.216 105
11 T Glock Virgin Racing 1:26.305 31

Sam Michael, Technical Director: Today we had some interruptions caused by rain, but we still managed to achieve just over one hundred laps working on race runs and set-up with Rubens. We’re now focussing our attention on some more set-up work for the final day of winter testing.

Rubens Barrichello: We covered 101 laps today, which is always good. Unfortunately, we had some rain during the day which affected the programme a little bit. Everything that the team has brought to this test seems to be working well, so it’s been a positive day altogether.

AT&T Williams Barcelona Test Report Day Two

DAY 2 OF 4
Circuit:  Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona 4.655km
Objective: Aero evaluations, starts practice & set-up work with the FW32
Weather: Dry and sunny all day, with some light wind
Average ambient temperature: 16°C

Pos Driver Team Best Time Total Laps
1 N Hulkenberg AT&T Williams 1:20.614 99
2 F Alonso Ferrari 1:20.637  134
3 P de la Rosa BMW Sauber 1:20.973 114
4 V Liuzzi Force India 1:21.056 90
5 S Vettel Red Bull Racing 1:21.258 125
6 J Alguersuari Toro Rosso 1:21.571 104
7 M Schumacher Mercedes GP 1:21.689 85
8 L Hamilton McLaren 1:22.152 93
9 R Kubica Renault F1 1:24.912 53
10 J Trulli Lotus 1:25.524 70
11 T Glock Virgin 1:25.942 52

Sam Michael, Technical Director: Nico finished his last day of winter testing today with a good run of laps. Our programme included the evaluation of a new sidepod, starts practice and some additional work on the set-up of the FW32. We’re making progress, but there’s still plenty to do.

Nico Hülkenberg: We’ve had a good test here. P1 today is nice but means nothing, to be honest. We’re not in Bahrain yet! It’s positive for the team, and for me, to know what the car can do though. We did a lot of set-up
work today and have found some interesting things so I feel ready and confident to go to Bahrain now.

AT&T Williams Barcelona Test Report Day One

DAY 1 OF 4
Circuit:  Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona 4.655km
Objective: Set-up work & systems checks with the FW32
Weather: Dry but cloudy all day, with some wind
Average ambient temperature: 12°C

Pos Driver Team Best Time Total Laps
1 M Webber Red Bull Racing 1:21.487 109
2 N Hulkenberg AT&T Williams 1:22.407 82
3 N Rosberg Mercedes GP 1:22.514 107
4 P de la Rosa BMW Sauber 1:23.144 73
5 J Button McLaren 1:23.452 101
6 V Liuzzi Force India 1:24.064 65
7 F Alonso Ferrari 1:24.170 74
8 V Petrov Renault 1:24.173 74
9 J Alguersuari Toro Rosso 1:24.869 111
10 L di Grassi Virgin 1:27.057 31
11 F Fauzy Lotus 1:28.002 76

Sam Michael, Technical Director: Nico spent our first day of four in Barcelona working on set-up, long runs and systems checks, like cooling. We also did some aero testing. Tomorrow, Nico will drive Chassis 02 and continue working through our programme.

Nico Hülkenberg: We had a good day. I did quite a lot of laps on different set-ups so we can continue to learn how the car will react. It’s my last day tomorrow, so I’m looking forward to getting lots of laps in to be in the best possible shape for Bahrain.

AT&T Williams Jerez Test Report Day Three

DAY 3 OF 4
Circuit:  Jerez de la Frontera 4.428km
Objective: Pitstop practice, race simulation & set-up work with the FW32
Weather: Dry all day
Average ambient temperature: 13°C

Pos Driver Team Best Time Total Laps
1 M Webber Red Bull Racing 1:19.299 115
2 F Alonso Ferrari 1:22.115 132
3 J Button McLaren 1:20.394 101
4 N Hulkenberg AT&T Williams 1:21.432 138
5 M Schumacher Mercedes GP 1:21.437 79
6 R Kubica Renault 1:21.916 100
7 A Sutil Force India 1:21.939 69
8 K Kobayashi BMW Sauber 1:22.228 28
9 J Alguersuari Toro Rosso 1:22.564 120
10 L di Grassi Virgin GP 1:23.504 34
11 H Kovalainen Lotus GP 1:23.521 68

Sam Michael, Technical Director:
Finally a dry day! Nico spent most of the morning doing pitstop practice with the race team before moving on to a race simulation. He then followed that up with a long run for set-up work. The cause of the problem which forced Nico to stop out on track towards the end of the session was hydraulic, but the part was high mileage. Nico will spend the evening working on set-ups and will continue running tomorrow for our last day in Jerez.

AT&T Williams Jerez Test Report Day Two

DAY 2 OF 4
Circuit: Jerez de la Frontera 4.428km
Objective: Set-up work & systems checks with the FW32
Weather: Intermittent rain all day
Average ambient temperature: 12°C

Pos Driver Team Best Time Total Laps
1 R Barrichello AT&T Williams 1:27.145 98
2 V Petrov Renault 1:27.828 56
3 S Vettel Red Bull Racing 1:28.162 70
4 N Rosberg Mercedes GP 1:28.515 71
5 F Massa Ferrari 1:28.879 92
6 P de la Rosa BMW Sauber 1:29.691 8
7 P di Resta Force India 1:30.344 33
8 T Glock Virgin GP 1:30.476 72
9 V Liuzzi Force India 1:30.666 24
10 L Hamilton McLaren 1:30.979 57
11 S Buemi Toro Rosso 1:32.678 57
12 H Kovalainen Lotus GP 1:33.554 30

Sam Michael, Technical Director:
“Rubens finished off another wet day in Jerez having covered a lot of mileage for reliability. He also completed some systems checks and carried out a programme of pitstop practice. All the pitstops were done under wet conditions and we’re working on some refinements for tomorrow when Nico will take over.”

Williams – Jerez – Day One

DAY 1 OF 4
Circuit:  Jerez de la Frontera 4.428km
Objective: Set-up work & systems checks with the FW32
Weather: Intermittent rain all day
Average ambient temperature: 13°C

Sam Michael, Technical Director:
Today the track was generally damp with only a few windows to run dry tyres. Although we covered a good number of laps, we had a couple of small mechanical problems that cost us track time when the grip was at its highest. We continue running tomorrow with Rubens.

Williams – Jerez – Day Four

DAY 4 OF 4
Circuit:  Jerez de la Frontera 4.428km
Objective: Set-up work with the FW32
Weather: Damp in the early part of the morning, dry for the remainder of the session
Average ambient temperature: 8°C

Sam Michael, Technical Director: After a damp start to the day, we went through some set-up work with Rubens during the afternoon run and made good progress understanding the car. We also worked on systems in the background. Unfortunately, we had to stop earlier than planned due to an issue with the gearbox. The parts were quite high mileage, so we are understanding where those limits are now. Overall, the test has been quite useful for putting mileage on the car, sorting out reliability issues and making progress on set-up.

Rubens Barrichello: We concentrated on set-ups today and completed 90 laps before we had the problem which the team are investigating now. The car has performed well these past two days and we’ve discovered some interesting things which will help us move it forward. I was hoping to go for a performance run at the end of the day because the car felt good, but unfortunately my session was cut short. There’s work to do in terms of improving performance, but I’m happy with the results that are coming out.

Williams – Jerez – Day Three

DAY 3 OF 4
Circuit:  Jerez de la Frontera 4.428km
Objective: Set-up work with the FW32
Weather: Dry until 11am, rain for the remainder of the session
Average ambient temperature: 8°C

Sam Michael, Technical Director: We went straight into a race run on slick tyres in the morning as we knew we would only have a short window before the rain came. After that, it was a wet programme for the rest of the day. We spent the session working on control strategies, systems checks, race starts and a couple of small set-up changes. We had no mechanical problems.

Rubens Barrichello: We basically only had a few laps in the dry this morning but then the rest of our running was done in the wet, so it was hard to find where the limit was and evaluate our performance. I’m looking forward to getting back in the car tomorrow and getting some more mileage in.

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