Difficult race for Williams full of unscheduled pitstops
The AT&T Williams team compromised start towards the rear of the grid for the Italian GP today presented limited opportunities and indeed plenty of potential threats. In the event, Kazuki Nakajima and Nico Rosberg made contact in the early stages of the race, resulting in damage to the bodywork of Kazuki’s car, the debris from which became lodged in his team-mate’s FW31.
Nico Rosberg as a consequence made two unscheduled stops, the first for a suspected puncture which in fact transpired to be an aerodynamic problem caused by debris, and the second due to damage sustained to the front right wheel which required a precautionary check to ensure the wheel nut locking mechanism had engaged properly. The time loss relegated Nico to a P16 finish, while Kazuki Nakajima, despite carrying an additional technical problem, managed to climb up the order to finish in the top ten.
Kazuki Nakajima: "We finished in a good position today considering our qualifying performance. I managed to gain a couple of positions in the first few corners and that made a big difference. The race pace wasn’t enough but we managed to have a good couple of laps and I think it was positive to keep Glock behind me even though he was going longer than me. I think we need to find more speed from the car but Singapore should be a good race for us."
Nico Rosberg: "This was a bad weekend for the team. To begin with, we have lacked pace since the start of practice, and we then had a number of issues in the race too. I had a good first lap and I made up four positions overtaking on the left and the right. Then I was hit on the front left by some debris and the car felt suddenly very different, with lots of understeer, so I assumed I had punctured my tyre and requested to pit. In fact the aero balance had been massively compromised and destroyed the grip, and this was just the beginning of a difficult afternoon. Today is one to put behind us, I think, and look ahead to next race where we should be fine."
Patrick Head, Director of Engineering: "Kazuki did a good day’s work today, starting in 17th and finishing in tenth, especially as he not only had bodywork damage but was also suffered a fuel pressure problem, losing him a little top end power. Nico had several problems today causing a number of unscheduled pit stops. Although Kazuki drove well, it is not lost on us that we are too far from the points and where we want to be."
