Tough day for Williams F1
After announcing the drivers line-up for 2007 this week, it was back to the race track for Williams F1 today. As usual, Alexander Wurz performed his third driver duties during the two free practice sessions and the running of Webber and Rosberg was limited.
Sam Michael, Technical Director, WilliamsF1 “We completed all the work we needed to on the tyres and systems and now we will work through the data to make our tyre selection for tomorrow. The overcast and cold conditions meant that the track wasn’t ideal temperature-wise for us so it would be good to see it improve over the weekend. We will now study all the data from today’s sessions to find the best set-up and tyre for the race. Alex, particularly, did a good job for the team today considering he hasn’t been feeling 100%.”
Alex Wurz “The morning session went according to plan and we completed our tyre comparison. Of course the track was still very green and we quite quickly saw that track conditions were a bit too cold for our liking. However, conditions improved as more rubber was laid on the circuit, which is often the case. I think everything is still open. My car balance wasn’t ideal and this is something we have to tune for Mark and Nico, especially for the race distance. I am still very happy because I am signed for a race drive with WilliamsF1 next year, but today I wasn’t feeling very well. I must say I’ve enjoyed happier days, considering I didn’t have much sleep last night as I was cuddling the loo instead. Not so funny!”
Mark Webber “It was a tough day for us. The car isn’t working that well yet and we only get a short period in which to make it work. Today is just about getting as much information as you can though and we have plenty of it. We need to find out why we weren’t that strong in practice and make it work for tomorrow and more importantly, Sunday.”
Nico Rosberg “First of all, thanks to Alex for getting in the car and giving us some valuable data again because he wasn’t feeling the best. It was quite difficult for us today. I think everyone struggled, though, so getting grip was the main issue of the day. I’m not happy with the set-up just yet, but we will improve upon that when we work on it tonight and get it right for tomorrow.”
Chris Jilbert, Principal Engineer, F1 Race Engineering, Cosworth “There were no engine problems at the Hungaroring for Cosworth today. Similarly, there were no engine drivability concerns raised by the drivers, and we look forward to making progress on the circuit tomorrow.”
