Neither Williams makes it to the finish
After a weekend of work in sweltering conditions, Williams leave Malaysia with neither of its FW33s having scored points. Both Rubens and Pastor had difficulties early on in the race and were eventually put out by reliability issues on their cars.
Rubens Barrichello’s race was compromised from the outset when a collision at the end of the first lap prompted an early pitstop to replace a punctured tyre. Rubens returned to fight from the back of the field but his afternoon of racing was definitively cut short on lap 23 with a hydraulic issue. Pastor Maldonado’s first taste of a Malaysian Grand Prix was aborted in the opening stages, a misfire forcing him into the garage on lap nine.
Sam Michael, Technical Director:
"As a team, we expect to, and must, perform much better than that on all fronts. Rubens had a left rear puncture after an impact with another car in the last turn of lap one. The necessarily cautious in‐lap and extra pitstop to replace the tyre put him a lap down. We held out but we then suffered a hydraulic leak, most likely due to the puncture. That ended Rubens' race. An engine misfire, the cause of which we are investigating, put Pastor out earlier on in the proceedings. We'll now move to quickly correct these reliability issues and go to the race in Shanghai with some more performance for the FW33."
Rubens Barrichello, FW33‐03 CA205, DNF:
"A hydraulic problem forced us out of the race today. The team are still trying to identify exactly what the issue was. I was running at the back anyway when we had to retire because of an early stop to change a punctured tyre picked up after a collision. This wasn’t the start of the season I was hoping for and we need to improve. Right now we don’t have a reliable car and we’re playing catch up, but the team back home are pushing hard to get things resolved and bring performance to the car. I believe they will be there soon."
Pastor Maldonado, FW33‐02 CA204, DNF:
"We had a misfire problem on my car from the third lap. I tried to stay out, but we had to bring the car in. I am now looking ahead to China where I will be pushing to complete a full race distance and get a better result."
