Williams Martini Racing 2015

[PlatinumZealot]

Dumbasses. IR guns can be so unreliable because they are so open to user error and environment and surface differences. why did FIA make an IR gun the reference?

[LookBackTime]

27 NOV 2015
Yas Marina, Abu Dhabi
5.554kms / 3.451 miles

FP1
Weather: Warm and Dry
Air & Track Temperatures: 27-28°C / 32-36°C
F Massa, FW37-02, PU106B Hybrid 1:45.433 (10th)
V Bottas, FW37-04, PU106B Hybrid 1:45,603 (11th)
Quickest Time: L. Hamilton (1:43.754)

FP2
Weather: Warm and Dry
Air & Track Temperatures: 28-29°C / 31-35°C
V Bottas, FW37-04, PU106B Hybrid 1:43.441 (11th)
F Massa, FW37-02, PU106B Hybrid 1:43.506 (12th)
Quickest Time: N. Rosberg (1:41.983)

Objectives: aero evaluations, set-up and tyre work.

Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering: Everything went according to plan. We were doing some development work on next year's car as well as the work for this weekend on the tyres and the set-up. We need to find a bit of time on both the low and high fuel, looking at where we were today, but we've got a lot to go through from today so that shouldn't be a big deal. If we can find that bit of time, we can be towards the front.

Valtteri Bottas: It was a normal Friday, going through our set-up tests with both cars. We got all the results we wanted but we are a little behind our performance goals, so we're trying to find something for better lap times tomorrow.

Felipe Massa: I expected a little bit better. We didn't improve so much from the soft tyre to the super soft, compared to some other cars, so this is the point we need to make better tomorrow. Also, the tyres were not 100% ready for the first lap on the super soft. I don't think these are big problems to understand, so I hope everything can work well tomorrow.

[LookBackTime]

ABU DHABI GP QUALIFYING

28 NOV 2015
Yas Marina, Abu Dhabi
5.554kms / 3.451 miles

Qualifying Notes
• Valtteri Bottas qualified sixth and Felipe Massa eighth for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
• Both drivers improved their lap times throughout the three segments of qualifying, but did not have the grip required to challenge the second row.
• The positions from fifth to ninth were closely-contested with five drivers covered by just four tenths of a second.

Weather: Warm and Dry
Temperature: Air: 25-26°C, Track: 28-30°C

Q1
F. Massa: 1:42.303 (6th)
V. Bottas: 1:42.608 (11th)
Quickest Time: L. Hamilton 1:40.974

Q2
V. Bottas: 1:41.868 (6th)
F. Massa: 1:42.349 (9th)
Quickest Time: L. Hamilton 1:40.758

Q3
V. Bottas: 1:41.656 (6th)
F. Massa: 1:41.759 (8th)
Quickest Time: N. Rosberg 1:40.237


Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering: We probably got as much as we could out of today, given the conditions and how we've set up the cars. Obviously that's not where we want to be, but we're inside the top 10 and we can look forwards tomorrow and finish higher up. We’ve set the cars up well for the race knowing it would be a compromise for qualifying, so we are still aiming to finish on a high on the podium.

Valtteri Bottas: We expected slightly more from qualifying, but I think we have a competitive car for tomorrow to fight with Force India, Red Bull and hopefully Ferrari. The balance felt good today but we were just missing some speed, as we have been all weekend. It should be an exciting race and we will fight to the end for every position to finish the season on a high.

Felipe Massa: The lap wasn't too bad, but the times were very tight at the top. The Force India was very strong and the two positions in front of me were split by just a tenth. Our long run pace is good, but the teams in front are strong so the race could be tough, a hard battle. But we have the opportunity to improve as there will be a few teams with similar pace to us in the fight.

[LookBackTime]

ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX

29 NOV 2015
Yas Marina, Abu Dhabi
5.554kms / 3.451 miles

Race Notes:
• Felipe Massa finished eighth and Valtteri Bottas 13th in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
• Both drivers were able to make up positions after the first lap, during the short first stint of the race on the super soft tyre.
• Felipe spent most of the race in a battle for seventh place. He passed Kvyat for P8 in the final stint but was unable to catch Hulkenberg before the finish.
• Valtteri made contact with Button in his first pit stop, damaging his front wing. He had to pit again for a new nose and later serve a five-second penalty, which dropped him down the field.
• Valtteri and Felipe clinched fifth and sixth places in the Drivers’ Championship, with the team having already sealed third in the Constructors’.

Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering: It wasn't the way we wanted to end our season, so we will go away and analyse how we could have done better at this race. We seemed to go forward in pace compared to Force India and Red Bull, but starting behind them in qualifying didn't help us. We shouldn't dwell on this race too much, we've had a really good season and finished a solid third again, which is important to the growth of the team. I'm incredibly proud of the way this team is constantly growing and improving. Our focus has been on the 2016 car for quite a long time, now we've got a long winter ahead and we have to come out the starting blocks in a full sprint next year.

Felipe Massa: It was a very tough race, but not much happened apart from trying to overtake a car with very similar pace. We didn't have the pace we wanted and we've paid the price in the last few races. This is a poor way to end the season, but it is a good motivator to come back strong in 2016. The guys are working hard so we hope to make gains over the winter.

Valtteri Bottas: Of course that was not the way we wanted to finish the season. But in the end this could be good - it was a proper wake-up call that we really need to raise our game if we want to challenge for the wins next year. We all know the facts, we need to find big gains with the car during the winter, and there are operational things we need to do better. Everyone knows it and we are fully motivated to fix these things and have a much better season next year. I need to say a big thank you to everyone in the team because we achieved third place in the Constructors' and with this team I managed to be fifth place in the Drivers' Championship. This season gave me some good things to remember, like a couple of very special podiums, but we want more so none of us are fully satisfied yet