Difficult day for Williams in changeable conditions

In low visibility, wet conditions, Nico Rosberg recorded the sixth fastest lap time in the Qualifying session for tomorrow’s Japanese Grand Prix at the Fuji Speedway. With poor morning weather conditions all but terminating third practice, the qualifying session required on-track speed as well as a well organised team plan and a carefully executed tyre selection for the track conditions.

In the adverse circumstances, Alex Wurz suffered and will start tomorrow’s from the ninth row of the grid, while team-mate Rosberg, despite performing strongly, will collect a ten place penalty in addition to his qualifying position given his unscheduled engine change*. In spite of this, the team intends to capitalise on a good pace and the changeable conditions likely to continue into tomorrow.

Nico Rosberg "It was quite a difficult qualifying today, especially because there was almost no free practice this morning and we could have used this time to get the car right for the wet conditions. In the first two qualifying sessions this afternoon, my visor was misted up, so I could barely see where I was going. By the time I got to Q3, everything was sorted and it all went pretty well in the end. I am happy with the result but it’s very disappointing because without an engine change, I would have been starting the race in a fantastic sixth place. I think I am going to do a rain dance in my hotel room tonight as I think a lot of rain tomorrow would help me from my starting position further back."

Alex Wurz "It was a really disappointing session for me as normally these kind of weather conditions really suit me. However, everything happened at the wrong time, I was called onto the weighbridge by the FIA, I had bad traffic and I didn’t manage to run my full programme. Of course you get quicker with every lap, so with these problems, it just didn’t work out today."

Sam Michael, Technical Director "It was a really good qualifying session from Nico who once again delivered when it mattered, continuing his consistency in qualifying. Alex missed out after the first session -it’s always difficult in changeable conditions. It looks like these conditions will continue tomorrow, so with Nico’s fuel fixed and Alex’s free, we’ll get our heads down tonight to see what we can do to get in the points tomorrow. We had no reliability issues today."