Very disappointing performance for Williams
Williams achieved another points scoring race result in today’s Japanese Grand Prix following Rubens Barrichello’s determined drive to ninth place. Team mate Nico Hulkenberg was unable to capitalise on his competitive showing in qualifying when a collision off the start line put him out of contention from the outset.
Rubens’ two points further strengthen the team’s efforts to secure sixth place in the Constructors’ championship with just three races of the season remaining.
Rubens Barrichello, FW32-04 / CA206:
My car was skating all over the track this afternoon. I don’t know why and, to make matters worse, I had quite a lot of vibration. We managed to salvage some points today, but I really thought we were going to finish higher up.
Nico Hulkenberg, FW32-01 / CA221:
I had a bad start and I didn’t get off the line at all. I then saw Petrov coming up behind me. He touched my front right wheel and that was it. You never want to finish a race that early, but today it happened and it was unfortunate for us both. The team are doing a really good job developing the car and that showed in our qualifying performance so it was a shame to finish that early.
Sam Michael, Technical Director:
It was good to get a couple of points with Rubens for the Constructors’. However, our race pace was disappointing, particularly compared to our qualifying performance when we were comfortably in the top ten. The team will work extra hard in order to understand and improve our position ahead of the remaining races. Unfortunately, we had a poor start on Nico's car and then he was run into by another car before Turn One.
