Williams endure difficult Friday
The Williams team have completed their Friday in preparation for the Malaysian GP by practicing starts and validating their new aerodynamic components. Nonetheless some minor glitches and difficulty to find the right setup are holding back the team.
Sam Michael, Technical Director
We spent today’s practice sessions working on starts and evaluating a revised diffuser and front brake duct. The tyres appear to be quite stable again, something we've come to expect from Bridgestone. Tonight we'll be focussing on extracting more speed out of the FW32 for qualifying. We had a mechanical problem on Nico's car in the afternoon session, but the mechanics were able to fix it quickly.
Rubens Barrichello, Chassis FW32-01 Engine CA122
FP1: 1:38.278 (18th) 18 LAPS
FP2: 1:36.813 (16th) 26 LAPS
Runs P1: Run 1: New Prime (1 lap, install), Run 2: Used Prime (7 laps, baseline), Run 3: Used Prime (5 laps, mechanical set-up), Run 4: Used Prime (4 laps, mechanical set-up),
Runs P2: Run 1: New Option (4 laps, tyre evaluations), Run 2: Used Option (11 laps, set-up), Run 3: New Prime (5 laps, tyre evaluations), Run 4: Used Prime (6 laps, set-up)
"That was a tough day for us. We carried out lots of interrogations on the car, but we feel that we aren’t as quick as we should be so we have a lot of work to do tonight to find out why that is.
Nico Hulkenberg, Chassis FW32-03 Engine CA120
FP1: 1:37.802 (17th) 27 LAPS
FP2: 1:37.415 (17th) 19 LAPS
Runs P1: Run 1: New Prime (1 lap, install), Run 2: Used Prime (8 laps, baseline), Run 3: Used Prime 5 laps, aero set-up), Run 4: Used Prime (12 laps, mechanical set-up)
Runs P2: Run 1: New Prime (4 laps, tyre evaluations), Run 2: Used Prime (5 laps, set-up), Run 3: Used Prime (3 laps, set-up), Run 4: New Option (7 laps, tyre evaluations)
"It was a pretty difficult day, certainly not ideal. We had some technical issues on my car but I’m not quite sure what they are yet. We need to get our heads together to find some time for qualifying."
Objectives P1
• Validation of new aero components
• Practice starts
Objectives P2
• Mechanical set-up work
• Tyre evaluations
Air and track temperature: 27 - 31°C / 31 - 41°C 31 - 330C / 40 - 52°C
Weather: Hot and humid Hot and humid
