Williams fill wet day with pitstop practice

F1 Test, Barcelona, Circuit de Catalunya

Williams limited themselves to tyre testing and pitstop practice in the damp conditions at Circuit de Catalunya. In fact the team were so focused on the job that they even didn't bother setting a timed lap, as the only runners of the day.

Mike Coughlan, Technical Director: The full race team joined us in Barcelona today for pitstop practice. The weather was wet as we expected which means we didn’t lose any dry running time with the FW35 in doing this. Overall, we’ve had a very encouraging week as the core reliability of the car has proved to be excellent. We are now looking forward to the next test in Barcelona where we can concentrate on the performance.

Valtteri Bottas: This morning we were focusing on pitstop practice and despite the weather we were able to achieve a lot. The key things to work on as a driver are breaking as late as possible for the pitlane speed limit to minimise the time lost, perfecting your positioning in the box and finally pulling away quickly and cleanly. It’s really interesting as there are a lot of things to think about, but the better I get, the more trust you build with the pit crew which means they are able to react even quicker. We’ll be doing a few more at the next test but then I feel I will be ready for Melbourne when it comes to pitstops.

Pastor Maldonado: Today was pitstop practice but it’s been good for me and the team to get some training in after the winter break. Overall, I am very happy with the last four days, as we’ve had no problems with the car and it is looking quite good. We achieved everything we wanted from this test so the whole team is happy. There is still plenty more work to do, but we have a good idea about what we need to do next so I’m looking forward to coming back here next week to continue developing the FW35.

The Williams F1 Team will be back on track next week, 28 February – 3 March, for the final pre-season test in Barcelona, Spain.