Perfect day for Williams marred by minor gearbox leak
So far an ok day for the Williams duo of Rubens Barrichello and Nico Hulkenberg, although the Brazilian veteran is feeling the effects of the bumpy Silverstone track. The Grove based team used the first day to evaluate their new aerodynamic updates and set up the cars to the new layout, as well as the usual tyre evaluations.
Sam Michael, Technical Director:
"We’ve had a good day evaluating set-up and tyres, as well as testing the new parts that we’ve brought here. The upgrades all worked as expected, including the exhaust blown diffuser, so we will be keeping that on both cars for the rest of the weekend. Nico’s car had a gearbox oil leak between sessions which cost him some time at the start of the second practice session."
Rubens Barrichello:
"I was very surprised by Silverstone today. I really love this circuit, it is one of my favourites, but it’s really, really bumpy. It’s quite odd and I’m sorry to say this because I’m usually such a fan. We weren’t anticipating such a bumpy track, so we had to make a lot of unexpected set-up changes in response. The team handled it well though and did a good job today."
Nico Hulkenberg:
"It went ok today. We worked through our run plan and covered everything we needed to, even though I was delayed starting the afternoon session. The car had a gearbox oil leak but the mechanics managed to fix it really quickly so I didn’t lose a great deal of time. I’m not quite happy with the car as it is at the moment, so we’ll be working hard tonight, analysing the data so we improve for tomorrow."
