Williams face tough tyre decision

The Williams team started their Turkish weekend with a problem free Friday. The day will prove to be vital as it is not obvious which tyre to choose for the race. Other teams have also declared that a good choice will be even more critical than at some other Grand Prix. The key factor is the renowned high-speed turn 8 where the right tyres suffer the most.

“We ran a standard programme on Alex’s car today, checking race set-up for Sunday and going through the two tyre choices as well as checking cooling and brakes. On the two race cars, we have tried a couple of different set-ups and now we will concentrate on finalising our tyre choice and getting the cars prepared for qualifying tomorrow.”

“We had a problem-free day today and managed our full programmes in both the first and second sessions. We will now have to analyse the data carefully because it’s not obvious which tyre to select. Our engineering meeting will be a very interesting process because the circuit changed with all the variables from wind conditions, the surface cleaning up and the rubber being laid down, so I have no doubt that making the right tyre choice will be the key factor this weekend.”

“It was an interesting Friday and we got through everything we needed to, so we have all the information we require to make our tyre comparisons. It would be good to find some extra pace, but we have seen this before where we are not topping the times on Fridays, but it’s a different situation on Saturdays. Alex did a lot of good race work for us, so we have plenty of homework tonight. I am looking forward to seeing how tomorrow will turn out.”

“I think it was a pretty good practice session which I spent getting the car and myself prepared for the track and by the end of the hour, it felt really good, I was really happy with the car. The next decision is to look through everything and make our tyre choice.”

“Today was a straight-forward, trouble-free day for Cosworth in Istanbul, with all three cars completing their respective programmes as planned. As no grid penalty will be incurred, we elected to carry out a precautionary engine change in Mark’s car before the event following the discovery of slight oil leak.”