Williams hopes to repeat Canadian success at Indianapolis
The second leg of the North American back to back races takes Formula One to the largest sporting facility of its kind in the world, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, for the United States Grand Prix this Sunday, 17th June. Steeped in history, the Brickyard has hosted almost a century of motor racing since it was constructed in 1909 from 3.2 million bricks. However, having made its debut on the calendar as recently as 2000, this year's event is only the eighth time Formula One has visited the legendary track.
Providing venue number seven of this year's Championship, the AT&T Williams team will be hoping to extend their demonstrable form witnessed last weekend in a memorable race in Canada with another points scoring performance. The team will be looking to see if it can avoid the poor fortune of the last two races where, despite being competitive, bad luck has prevented both cars from scoring points.
Alex Wurz "Coming to Indy is special as it is a race track which has a significant place in motor racing history, in fact, what a name - 'Indianapolis'. I am really looking forward to the race and of course I come here feeling very positive after scoring some more points in Canada, but of course the US GP is another clean sheet and a new game. My goal is to ensure I qualify in the top ten and of course fight hard for some points in the race itself. The set-up for the race is quite similar to Canada, yet there are some subtle differences in the details, for instance the tyre compound is one step on in terms of hardness, so we will definitely have to do quite a lot of set-up work on the car to find its balance on this track."
Nico Rosberg "After Montreal, I am going to Chicago for a couple of days of relaxation, it sounds like an interesting place, so I am looking forward to it. Moving on to Indianapolis, I don't suppose it is my favourite track that we visit during the year, but as a driver I will put this to the back of your mind. We will run similar downforce levels to Montreal, albeit the circuit has different characteristics, but we'll still be hoping for a similar level of performance and I want to make up for the points I missed out on in Canada. In many ways, it's good to have another race so soon as it provides the possibility of making up for the problems I had in Canada."
Sam Michael, Technical Director, Williams F1 "Indy is completely different to the other tracks we race on because we use part of the banked oval that is used for the Indy 500 – although in F1 we run in the opposite direction. After a tight and twisty infield section we have the longest full throttle section on the calendar – up to 23 seconds. This means that we will always tend towards a low drag setup, similar to what we used in Montreal GP last weekend.
After the great pace and podium result that we had at the last GP, we are looking to follow that up with a good performance at the US GP. The Bridgestone Potenza tyres that are working well on the FW29 now shift to a harder window than the last two races."
Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indianapolis
Located in the state capital of Indiana, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the oldest motor racing circuit in the world. The drivers negotiate 73, 2.6 mile laps consisting of 13 turns, nine right and four left, and some of the longest straights on the calendar. Similar to Montreal, Indy is a power circuit which demands a medium downforce set-up, but its rhythm is broken by the twisty infield area (constructed in 1998 to accommodate F1) where, contrastingly, good traction is key. Inevitably, finding a balance between the two will therefore be the challenge that the drivers and their engineers will face over the weekend.
Engine power is undoubtedly rewarded at this revered circuit which sees the cars reach 335km/h and endure 59% of the lap at full throttle. With such events lasting up to 23.5 seconds, the longest seen over the season, engines must be able to withstand the extremes of thermal and mechanical pressures. The unique nature of the oval's banking also places certain loadings on the tyres, so wear rates are carefully monitored. Combined with an intense build up of heat from the high speed straights, reliable, softer rubber which offers grip in the infield section is critical to complete the challenge of one of America's finest institutions.
