Only bad luck for Williams today
Mark Webber, who started from 2nd position on the starting grid this afternoon, was driving an amazing race and was heading for his first podium place this season. The Aussi had to retire the race, though, due to an exhaust failure. Team mate Nico Rosberg had to leave his home Grand Prix without points after ending up in the barriers.
Sam Michael, Technical Director, WilliamsF1 “It was a shame that both drivers had to stop the race due to exhaust failures that then allowed hot exhaust gas to burn through wiring looms. Up until then Mark was doing really well and he was in line for a strong second place. The car was really competitive and had a lot of fuel on board. The qualifying pace of the car was clearly good as well if you look at the lengths of the first stints compared to the other front running cars, so it’s a shame we didn’t come away with more points from this circuit. Nico’s race suffered from the result of poor qualifying which left him stuck in traffic right from the beginning. We now must get to the bottom of the exhaust problems that have affected us today and ensure they are fixed.”
Mark Webber “I am very disappointed of course, it felt like we deserved something today, but reliability has let us down. There is no rewind button and all the hard work we did over the last few days is invisible now. We were quick here, I was going a lot longer than Fernando in the second stint and Juan-Pablo wasn’t really a threat, so the podium was there. Aside from the start, when I got on the brakes a sniff late into Ste Devote and lost the place to Kimi – who was on new tyres - it was an hour of running at qualifying pace and I just had a bit more to go and it would have been a great result.”
Nico Rosberg “The team has done a great job in improving our starts and today I had a very good start and gained two positions. Unfortunately this wasn’t enough because I was stuck in 6th position behind Barrichello, who was much slower than me. From then on my race was compromised, I think, because I was on a two-stop strategy and everyone around me was one-stopping. I am very sorry for the team because we had one of the strongest cars out there, and Mark’s performance proved it. We would have finished on the podium for sure today and it’s a pity that we came away from here with no points. After the safety car came in, I felt I had a problem with the throttle sticking open and when I tried to slow down, it pushed me into the barriers.”
Chris Jilbert, Principal Engineer – Cosworth, F1 Race Engineering “A thoroughly disappointing end to what was shaping up to be a promising event for Cosworth following Mark’s exceptional qualifying position. Unfortunately both cars retired due to exhaust failures. We need to give both engines a thorough inspection back in Northampton to assess the extent of the fire damage.”
