Tyre management the key for Williams
With Valtteri Bottas taking over for Bruno Senna during FP1, it was up to the young Finn and Pastor Maldonado to gather data and analyze the updates and tyre compounds present for the European GP. And between all three drivers, the Williams team felt positive about their performance and tyre management, which is key with these 2012 Pirelli's.com
Mark Gillan, Chief Operations Engineer: "We had a good day today and tested a number of new development items in addition to working on the car set-up and tyre management. All three drivers performed well with Pastor being particularly strong throughout the first session. Having been out of the car for a couple of races Valtteri quickly got up to speed and gave us good feedback on his test programme during this morning's session. Bruno then completed a good second session with the race drivers working on both low and high fuel balances on the medium and soft tyres. We have collected a lot of data which we now need to dissect, and make decisions on ahead of both qualifying and the race."
Bruno Senna: "It was a good day and we managed to fulfil our test programme. It would have been useful to have done a few more miles but we have still gathered a lot of valuable data. We’re getting closer to where we need to be so I’m happy with how today went."
Pastor Maldonado: "We completed our full test programme today. The track was so green at the start of the day, as expected, but the grip level has been increasing throughout each session. The car was consistent but we lost a bit of time on our shorter runs this afternoon. We need to understand the set-up of the car a bit better and to anticipate how the track conditions will change tomorrow. The car is working well but we still need to improve."
Valtteri Bottas: "It was pretty difficult this morning as the track was still quite dusty and the last time I drove the car was Barcelona so I had to get back into the rhythm. I was building up all the time and we got all the data from the new aero parts we were testing which is the main thing. The wind made it a bit trickier so it wasn’t the easiest of conditions, especially when the walls are so close. The main positive thing was how we managed our tyres, as my times in the third stint were still good in comparison to my first two runs."
