Great day for Williams F1
The Williams F1 Team has done extremely well today as Alexander Wurz topped the timesheets of both free practice sessions today. The team hopes to continue on this road and score points during the race on Sunday.
Sam Michael, Technical Director, WilliamsF1 “Today was productive, working on race set-up and choosing tyres. Alex did his usual job of thoroughly checking the tyre performance of the two Bridgestones available here. Both look good, so it’ll be a difficult choice for the race. Alex also went through checks of the cooling systems and brakes without any problems. We did more running with Mark and Nico to give them extra track time, which will benefit them by the end of the weekend. Both drivers tried some planned set-up changes, so we’ll pool all that data tonight and look at the direction we should take for the remainder of the weekend. So far everything is going to plan.”
Alex Wurz “This morning it was quite slippery and very dusty, resulting in low grip levels, but the circuit conditions improved and changed rapidly throughout the whole two sessions, which makes the setup work quite difficult. Nevertheless, the more rubber went down, the better our package functioned, so I think that will play into our hands. I was pleased with my performance, especially with the first lap of the long runs, where I was really quick, and in the end I was the fastest overall! With regard to tyres, I am happy with the choice we have brought here from testing, but the better the choice to bring to the race weekend, the more difficult it is now to choose between the two compounds – it will be a very tight decision.”
Nico Rosberg “Today went quite alright. I put more laps than usual under my belt, and even if I know this track very well, having extra running time is helpful as driving here in a Formula One car is very different to my previous experience on this track. We have learnt several things from Alex and all three of us have tried a few variables on the set-up, which proved positive.”
Mark Webber “The pace is obviously there, we look okay here, but I am not happy with the car at the moment, so we have some more work to do tonight on the balance of the car and the tyre comparisons and get ourselves ready for tomorrow.”
Simon Corbyn, Head of F1 Race Engineering, Cosworth Ltd “Alex completed a solid Friday programme with his CA2006 Series 2 engine. He experienced no
engine problems and it is good to see the Cosworth-powered Williams top the timesheets again. Mark and Nico also had no issues and completed their programmes as planned.”
