2016 Williams Martini Racing F1 Team - Mercedes

[Gridlock]

We should ask Williams to share the good stuff;
https://twitter.com/peterdwindsor/statu ... 5872100353

[LookBackTime]

Valtteri Bottas ‘positive’ FW38 a step forward
Thomas Maher 27 mins ago F1 News - Latest News in Formula 1 | Formula One Leave a comment


Williams’ Valtteri Bottas says that he believes many of the weaknesses that affected the competitiveness of the 2015 FW37 have been improved on. The Finnish driver took part in the first two days of the Barcelona test, putting in 80 laps on Day 1 and 134 on Day 2. He was P4 on the first day, moving down to P7 on the second day with a best time of 1:25.648, 2.836 seconds away from the best time set by Sebastian Vettel.

With Williams usually choosing a low-key testing program, P7 made Bottas feel pleased with his day’s work:

“Today went well. Everything went as planned and we got plenty of laps in, so that’s always good. Still feeling positive about the new car, but we’ve no idea where we are really.”

“You can always spot some things that could be improved but the main thing is that we have improved on many of the weaknesses from last year.”

“It’s always very nice to be back in the car and it’s nice to feel that we have made improvements, but it is way too early to say anything more than that.”

[LookBackTime]

BARCELONA TEST 1 - DAY 2

23 FEB 2016
Driver: Valtteri Bottas
Chassis / Engine: FW38-02 / PU106C Hybrid
Location: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, 4.655km
Weather: Warm and Dry
Maximum air & track temps: 20ºC / 27ºC

Rod Nelson, Chief Test & Support Engineer:
It has been quite a positive day for us. We were aiming for some longer runs and reliability work. We also did some aero work and quite a lot of chassis work. It has been an interesting day for all the engineers and the driver. I am looking forward to Felipe getting in the car for the first time tomorrow to get a different point of view. We are all working hard and it has been a good day.

Valtteri Bottas:
We completed the whole programme we had for today, so that is always good. Everyone in the garage has been working very hard. I am pleased with the amount of laps we did today, with the mileage and reliability that we already have in the car. Like yesterday, we are just going through our programme and not focussing on the performance yet, so there is still a question mark as to where we are compared to the other teams. I think it will be interesting to follow what things Felipe is going to try with the car. I’m looking forward to next week now as well, to get back in the car and try to get a bit more out of it.

Valtteri Bottas: 1:25.648 (7th) on lap 122/134

Quickest time: S. Vettel, 1:22.810 on lap 38/126

WILLIAMS MARTINI RACING will be back on track tomorrow with Felipe Massa at the wheel of the Williams Mercedes FW38 for day three of the test.

[LookBackTime]

WILLIAMS RACING ‏@WilliamsRacing 5m5 minutes ago
Day three of #FW38 testing and @MassaFelipe19 is excited to be behind the wheel for the first time #WeAreRacing

[LookBackTime]

Felipe Massa was due to head out, but the red flags mean the Williams has been rolled back. #F1Testing #f1

[LookBackTime]

BARCELONA TEST 1 - DAY 3

Tweet Share on Facebook
24 FEB 2016
Driver: Felipe Massa
Chassis / Engine: FW38-02 / PU106C Hybrid
Location: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, 4.655km
Weather: Warm and Dry
Maximum air & track temps: 19ºC / 25ºC

Rod Nelson, Chief Test & Support Engineer:
It has been another productive day. It was good to have Felipe in the car. We are all still learning, as is he. Valtteri has been at track to give us a hand and the drivers have been chatting about their feelings and it has been pretty positive. We have essentially been doing a lot of reliability work today. We did a race simulation with Felipe which we are quite pleased with and now we are pushing on with more performance work to end a fairly solid day. We had to finish slightly early due to an inlet system issue which we are investigating to make sure we are ready to continue our programme on the final day of the test tomorrow.

Felipe Massa:
Today was a good day doing 109 laps, and spending time trying to understand the FW38 for the first time. It is always nice to drive the car and understand areas that are better than the old one, but also keep working on understanding what there is to improve in terms of set-up. There is definitely a lot to do to get the car where we want it but I had a good feeling, and I am sure we are just at the beginning of many improvements. At the very end of the day, unfortunately I had to stop due to an issue in the power unit. We couldn’t finish the programme but we were very close, missing only the final few laps.



Felipe Massa: 1:26.712 (10th) on lap 31/109

Quickest time: N. Hulkenberg, 1:23.110 on lap 53/99

WILLIAMS MARTINI RACING will be back on track tomorrow with Felipe Massa returning to the wheel of the Williams Mercedes FW38 for the fourth, and final, day of the first test.

[LookBackTime]

BARCELONA TEST 1 - DAY 4

25 FEB 2016

Driver: Felipe Massa
Chassis / Engine: FW38-02 / PU106C Hybrid
Location: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, 4.655km
Weather: Warm and Dry
Maximum air & track temps: 20ºC / 28ºC

Rod Nelson, Chief Test & Support Engineer:
Today was one of those days I’m afraid. We spent most of the morning doing aerodynamic correlation work which was pretty successful. We are getting through our programme day by day. Sadly, we had an issue with one of the car systems over lunchtime and that curtailed a lot of our running this afternoon which we had planned. We know what the issue is, we’ve got a solution, and now we look forward to next week.

Felipe Massa:
I am not so happy with today - it was not really a useful day. The most important things was that we carried out our aerodynamic tests this morning, to understand the numbers and everything around the car. Unfortunately, we couldn’t run much this afternoon. I had hoped to do more laps than I did.

Felipe Massa: 1:26.483 (10th) on lap 43/54

Quickest time: K. Raikkonen, 1:23.477 on lap 52/80

WILLIAMS MARTINI RACING return to track on Tuesday 1st March for the second test in Barcelona, with Valtteri Bottas at the wheel of the FW38.

[LookBackTime]

from German media - Google Translate

Frustration at Williams after ERS-defect: "Right amount of time lost"
by Sven Haidinger
25 February 2016 - 20:55

A hybrid problem brought Williams in the test finale from the schedule: Why Felipe Massa in a bad mood, but the damage is kept within limits

(Motorsport-Total.com) - is held on the first three days of testing in Barcelona Williams elegantly in the background. The final of the first week made ​​no difference, but this time this happened not voluntarily: Felipe Massa was due to a problem with the energy recovery system complete only 54 laps and came with 3.006 seconds behind Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen only to ninth place.

"This was not really a great day," sighed the Brazilian, who before the test start even talked about victories and world titles , at halftime of the winter tests. On the eve Massa was even only tenth but nevertheless came to more than 100 rounds. "Unfortunately we are not driven so many laps and we had a few problems, which required some changes to the car," he told Autosport '.

The disappointment was Massa in his face: "Today we have lost a whole lot of time , and the day was not very useful I hope that this will not deter us, to know our car in time.."

To date, Williams was behind schedule , and in the morning the veteran could nevertheless slowly roll around the track and aerodynamic tests complete. "We did that in order to analyze all the data," he explains. "That was the only positive."

And eventually, that the problem will probably have no great impact on the second week of testing. "We could hardly go in the afternoon though, but we know the problem and have a solution ," said chief engineer Rod Nelson .

Unlike the situation at Mercedes rivals: While Williams came in four days of testing on 377 laps, there were all Mercedes 675 rounds. This seems fairly certain that the reliability will not be the Achilles' heel of the world champion team.

This not just improves Massas mood also: "That they go so many rounds, is already a big warning for us apart from what they have done in the past two years, as they have finished the season - and the car. they have an unchanged Regulations. What they show on the track, clearly shows that they will be very strong again. "

[LookBackTime]

Pat Symonds Q&A: P2 a tough ask for Williams - but not impossible!
26 Feb 2016 Share

They might not have scored as many podiums as they had the previous year, but in 2015 Williams consolidated their position as the third best team on the grid behind Mercedes and Ferrari. The question now is, can they kick on and challenge the big two in 2016? That, according to Williams’ chief technical officer Pat Symonds, is certainly the aim, though as he explains in this exclusive interview, it will be far from easy…

Q: Pat, the first test of the new Formula One season is history. Do you already have a gut feeling of how Williams will do in 2016?

Pat Symonds: Ah, well, when you start testing and things are going wrong you definitely know; if they are going well you can never be quite sure and I think we are in that kind of situation. We certainly don’t have any problems, but particularly now that testing is compressed to eight days there is a lot of routine work to do and you are never quite sure how people go about that. I was very much surprised on day one that people already started to run the ultrasoft tyres, as this is something that you normally wouldn’t see. So all I can say at this stage is that everything is going well for Williams and I think we will be out there and fighting.

Q: After the first test last year things looked really promising for Williams heading into 2015. How much ended up going to plan? And where were the shortcomings that you want to eliminate in 2016?

PS: Well, our ambition going into 2015 was to obtain our position in the top three. I think most people forgot where Williams were in 2013 - where we came from. Actually in 2015 we took a brave decision very early on in the season to limit the development that we were doing on the car and move onto the 2016 car - and despite that we achieved what we wanted: finishing third in the championship. Coming back to your question of whether everything went according to plan in 2015, racing people want to win - that what it’s all about - so we didn’t achieve that. The reality is that to finish third in such an intense championship with the budget that we have is something we really should be proud of. So yes, we did achieve our objectives - and now let’s see where we get this year.


"To finish third in such an intense championship with the budget that we have is something we really should be proud of"
Pat Symonds

Q: A harsh person might argue that Williams almost finished P3 by default. The usual front-runners like Red Bull Racing and McLaren had severe engine troubles and it would have been a big surprise for Force India to do better than P5…

PS: Ha, that’s not very fair to say, is it? It is a fact in sport that the outcome of any competition is not just the function of your ability - it is also the function of the ability of you competitors. In 2014 McLaren had the same power unit as we did and we quite clearly beat them. So it is not just the Honda problems or the Renault problems that got us there [to P3], as I think you implied. A season is long, as we all know, and it is our job to be competitive throughout the whole season. Red Bull were competitive at the end of 2015, but they started slow - and this competitive environment isn’t forgiving! So there is no way I would ever think that we didn’t deserve to finish in P3. We have clearly been the third power on the grid.

Q: Is P3 also Williams’ destiny for this season? The scenario looks pretty much the same…

PS: Why not say P2? (laughs) I would say our realistic goal is always to fight for the podium and if you fight for the podium it means you are fighting in the top three - and that is realistic. But I also have to say it is still quite ambitious. I think we would be proud if we maintained third. The fact is to finish third in the championship is a good thing in any given year.

Q: Will Williams be able to attack Ferrari? Mercedes are probably a bit far off…

PS: Ferrari is a target. Ferrari is iconic and therefore every team dreams of beating them. They did a great job last year and they can be a tough challenge this year!

Q: It might come down to engines. How close do you think your engine is to that used by Mercedes?

PS: We get absolutely the same engine. It was only on one occasion - at Monza last year - where they ran a different engine that was better than the customer engines, but we knew about it beforehand. The rest of the season was completely equal. And this goes also for the whole 2016 season: no difference between works team and customer teams.


"Williams has continuity this year - same drivers, same engineers - and that counts for a lot"
Pat Symonds

Q: Power unit manufacturers who also run teams - isn’t that a bit uncomfortable?

PS: No. Remember I’ve been on the other side with Renault when we supplied Red Bull with engines. Back then the customers were allowed to develop the engine - and that was only for them and we, the works team, didn’t get to know about it.

Q: Right now there are ongoing discussions about the engines and how they are supplied to the teams for 2017…

PS: Yes, it is a process that was given time until the end of April.

Q: One year ago you said that Valtteri Bottas has the world champion gene. You also said that there is still a title within Felipe Massa. Did both live up to your expectations in 2015?

PS: They both lived up to my expectations. I would still stand by that statement now one year on. Valtteri learned a lot and Felipe is still quick. I really don’t think much has changed. And Williams has continuity this year - same drivers, same engineers - and that counts for a lot. So it should work for us.

Q: Will there be continuity for 2017 too, with all the big rule changes?

PS: Yes, with such big changes coming our way the continuity of engineers and drivers is even more important.

Q: So we will see the same drivers at Williams in 2017?

PS: Who knows? But I would be very happy.

Q: What did you impress upon your drivers for this season?

PS: I don’t think we need to. We work as a team and therefore we’re always learning from each other and coaching. But with the drivers there is not really anything you can say - not 'look, do this or do that'. As a team - which includes the drivers - we’ve still got a little bit of work to do in terms of getting the best out of the tyres, and in that respect the drivers contribute a lot. But you cannot tell them if you brake a bit later in that sector you’ll go quicker! (laughs)

[LookBackTime]

Williams F1 team has made gains on 2015 weaknesses, Bottas believes

http://beta.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/123002

Moved the article to FW38 section.

[LookBackTime]

http://beta.autosport.com/news/report.p ... o-mercedes

No one is close to Mercedes F1 team says Williams's Valtteri Bottas

Valtteri Bottas believes no one will challenge Mercedes in the early part of the 2016 Formula 1 campaign on the evidence so far in pre-season testing.

Bottas's words echo Williams team-mate Felipe Massa's suggestion last week Mercedes' reliability after racking up a mammoth amount of laps was "a big warning" to the rest of F1.

Nico Rosberg set the fastest time on day one of the second Barcelona test on soft tyres, with his time 1.5 seconds quicker than the next best to date on the same compound.

Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, completed a full 66-lap Spanish Grand Prix simulation run to underline Mercedes' confidence in its F1 W07 Hybrid.

Bottas, second quickest for the day with a time 0.2s adrift of Rosberg but achieved using the new ultra-soft rubber, said: "At the moment it looks like they [Mercedes] are in a really strong position.

"Where we are now it looks like it's going to be quite tricky for anyone to challenge them at the beginning of the season. That is a fact at the moment.

"But let's see. I'm sure we'll still progress a lot from these tests and there is more to come."

Suggested to Bottas another season of Mercedes dominance would be a shame for the fans, he replied: "Yeah, I know. We are doing our best. We're really trying to chase them.

"It's a long season, and who knows. We'll hopefully have plenty of upgrades to come for Melbourne, and hopefully they will work well.

"Don't lose your faith yet."

For now, it would appear Williams will be challenging Ferrari to be the best of the rest.

Bottas said: "It was a good sign today we're starting to change the programme and do more and more performance work.

"The laptimes were coming down nicely, and we know we still have plenty more to come.

"We're trying hard to be up there, but whether we're going to there in Melbourne, we don't know yet.

"But we've definitely made progress, as have most of the teams. It's so difficult at this time to say anything in fine detail as to where we are.

"I do hope we can fight with Ferrari and Red Bull. It's going to be a competitive season. I just really hope we can be up there fighting for the places we want."

[LookBackTime]

BARCELONA TEST 2 - DAY 1

Tweet Share on Facebook
01 MAR 2016
Driver: Valtteri Bottas

Chassis / Engine: FW38-02 / PU106C Hybrid
Location: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, 4.655km
Weather: Warm and Dry
Maximum air & track temps: 20ºC / 29ºC

Rod Nelson, Chief Test & Support Engineer:

Today was a very good day for us. The car ran faultlessly. We did lots of quite significant tests throughout the day as well as a bit of a qualifying simulation. We managed to get through our planned programme without any major problems, so overall we are really pleased.

Valtteri Bottas:

It was a good day today. We managed to run without any major issues with the car. It was very interesting discovering more about the FW38 and what kind of set-ups work for this car. I think we managed to make progress. We did some short runs today which I really enjoyed. I still agree with what I said last week – we have improved in the areas where we were weak last year. I am looking forward to tomorrow and continuing testing.

Valtteri Bottas: 1:23:229 (2nd) on lap 89/123

Fastest: N. Rosberg, 1:23:022, on lap 67/82.

Williams Martini Racing and Valtteri Bottas will be returning to track tomorrow for day two of the test.

[LookBackTime]

BARCELONA TEST 2 - DAY 3

Tweet Share on Facebook
03 MAR 2016
Driver: Felipe Massa
Chassis / Engine: FW38-02 / PU106C Hybrid
Location: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, 4.655km
Weather: Warm and Dry
Maximum air & track temps: 18ºC / 28ºC


Rod Nelson, Chief Test & Support Engineer:
It’s been another productive day for us. We started off with some suspension and tyre tests this morning when the conditions were more stable, as usual here in Barcelona. Over the lunchbreak we did a grid process simulation, and then a first race stint straight after. We’ve also completed a qualifying simulation running on mediums, softs, and ultrasofts at the end. Sadly, Felipe couldn’t set his potentially quickest time on the ultrasofts due to traffic, so he was actually quickest on a soft tyre. We also did some more system work and aero evaluations, so a bit of everything really. We’ll spend a few days following the tests looking at all the data but I think we can be reasonably positive that we are up there at the sharp end. Exactly where we are we will only really know after the first few races of the season though. In terms of development, Felipe and Valtteri are both giving similar feedback. They are sensitive to different aspects of car performance, but they broadly agree with each other’s comments, which really helps. They push each other on sportingly and technically, so are a good combination.

Felipe Massa:
Today has been a very positive day. We managed to do our programme without any problems, which included some long runs and also some short runs. We tried the soft and even ultrasoft tyres. Unfortunately I couldn’t do my ultrasoft lap because we had some traffic, but overall it was a very good day and good to understand the car in a better way. I am definitely much happier this week compared to last week. We are almost ready for the first race, which is really when we will have a proper idea of where we are compared to the others, but today was a good day.

Felipe Massa: 1:23.193 (2nd) on lap 77/119
Fastest: K. Raikkonen, 1:22.765 on lap 31/136

WILLIAMS MARTINI RACING returns tomorrow with Felipe Massa at the wheel of the FW38 for the final day of the test.

[Sevach]

http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/willi ... na-677191/

A lot of info, such as updates held until Melboune, where Williams stand on the grid.

Massa also a lot happier with the car this weekend.

[Raleigh]

Massa on soft tires got within 2/10ths of the best Mercedes or Ferrari times on the same tire, and with significant upgrades yet to come (and a good Williams track record of updates working), this is quite promising.