Williams-Toyota

Formula 1 Team reports for the 2009 F1 season includes race previews, reports and reviews
Ed
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Post by Ed » Sat May 09, 2009 1:55 am

SPANISH GRAND PRIX PRACTICE

Objectives P1
• Aero set-up work
• Fuel system checks

Objectives P2
• Short and long run tyre tests for qualifying and the race
• Further aero set-up work

Conclusions - Sam Michael, Technical Director
“We had a normal Friday during which we carried out short runs to prepare for qualifying and long runs to prepare for the race. The tyres are much closer than we anticipated on the basis of the tests we’ve had here and the hard tyres look stronger than they have at other circuits. We should therefore expect to see more even strategies from the teams on Sunday, rather than these unbalanced strategies that we’ve seen in the first four races of the year whereby people have run very short final stints.”

Nico Rosberg
Runs P1: 1 install (new prime), 7 (new prime), 7 (scrubbed prime), 5 (scrubbed prime)
Runs P2: 3 (scrubbed prime), 11 (new option), 11 (new prime), 4 (new option), 4 (scrubbed option)
“Today was our first run with the new aero components on the car and they all seemed to work well. They’re giving us a few tenths extra per lap so we’ve made definite progress. Everyone has brought new developments here though so we will see how things look in qualifying. We also ran some tyre compares today. It’s not obvious which direction will be the right one, so strategy is going to be very important and will have a major impact on the race.”

Kazuki Nakajima
Runs P1: 1 install (new prime), 8 (scrubbed prime), 4 (scrubbed prime), 4 (scrubbed prime)
Runs P2: 5 (scrubbed prime), 4 (new prime), 4 (new option), 12 (scrubbed option), 4 (new option)
“We had a pretty good day and it seems that all the updates are working well. I found it quite difficult to get enough grip with the hard tyre, the soft one definitely has the advantage for me. We now need to focus our attention on qualifying well tomorrow.”

Ed
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Post by Ed » Sun May 10, 2009 12:31 am

SPANISH GRAND PRIX QUALIFYING
SATURDAY 9 MAY, 2009

In today’s qualifying session for round five of the championship, the Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona, AT&T Williams’ Kazuki Nakajima missed out on a place in Q3 by the narrowest of margins yet achieved the best qualifying result of his season so far and will line up for tomorrow’s race in P11 with the benefit of a flexible strategy. Nico Rosberg once again made it into the top ten shoot out and will start Europe’s opening round on the clean side of the grid in 9th place.

Nico Rosberg:
I must say I am very pleased with today’s result because we weren’t looking good this morning. In qualifying, we struggled to get the tyres to work because the temperatures were only just about right. The tyres weren’t perfect on the first lap, but then they came together on the second. I managed to hook up a strong lap in Q2 which put me as high as P7, but I then didn’t have any tyres left for Q3. We did the best we could and we can be happy with the fifth row. We have a strong strategy so we have a good chance for the race tomorrow.

Kazuki Nakajima:
My effort is a little bit disappointing. I felt comfortable throughout the session but I then lost time towards the end of my quick lap. The car felt really good too so I need to look over my data and see why I was losing that time. I think we can still have a decent race; in fact, I need to after the last few that haven’t gone well for me. Points will definitely be a target for me tomorrow.

Patrick Head, Director of Engineering:
We had a difficult morning in practice, mainly caused by traffic problems, but we also struggled with the tyres. In qualifying, Nico secured a good time in Q2 to enter Q3 and then take ninth. Kazuki unfortunately just missed out on Q3 but P11 is a good position to start from. Because we’d used all of our new tyres, we decided to take a more conservative direction with race strategy so we won’t be threatening the front runners in the early laps of the race.

Ed
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Post by Ed » Mon May 11, 2009 1:09 am

SPANISH GRAND PRIX RACE
SUNDAY 10 MAY, 2009

A closely fought Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona today opened the European rounds of the 2009 World Championship. Starting in P11, Kazuki Nakajima became embroiled in the second corner incident which prompted a premature pitstop for a new nose and a change in strategy. Rejoining at the back of the pack, Kazuki was unable to improve any further than P13. Nico Rosberg benefited from a cleaner start, moving into P7 from a P9 grid position by the end of lap one. Inconsistency compromised a strong strategy and left Nico in P8 and with one point at race end.

Nico Rosberg:
I really believe we could have taken fifth place today but things didn’t go too well. I had a very good first few laps but, after 10 laps or so, I started to experience a problem at the rear of the car which I’ve had all weekend.
Something inexplicable would just happen and affect the balance which caused a lot of oversteer. Oddly enough, it would then be ok again. As this was happening throughout much of the race, I couldn’t really push and that really hurt me. Going home with one point is always positive though and we should have a good car in Monaco so I think we’ll have the chance to get a good result there.

Kazuki Nakajima:
Another difficult race for me. I didn’t have anywhere to go off the line and ended up damaging my front wing as I was caught in the middle of the first lap incident. Fortunately, I didn’t lose a massive amount of time because the safety car was deployed, but my race was really over from there. Our race pace was quite good, and that allowed me to get ahead of Fisichella, but this is just a disappointing end to the weekend.

Patrick Head, Director of Engineering:
Although we were in the points today, it was frustrating not to get more out of the race, particularly as the safety car on the first lap gave our strategy a good advantage over the cars in front. Kazuki was out of points contention early on due to a pitstop to change the front wing. Nico's pace in the first stint was initially good but we then struggled to maintain consistency so we'll have to investigate that. Both cars were reliable.

Ed
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Post by Ed » Tue May 19, 2009 7:50 pm

MONACO GRAND PRIX PREVIEW

Monte Carlo in a nutshell
Fierce braking and acceleration are a major feature, and suit a lighter car, but the race distance is about 40 kilometres shorter than most, so drivers have less chance to capitalise. More pertinently, it’s essential to qualify well because overtaking borders on the impossible, no matter how quick your car might be. A little flexibility is required, Safety Cars are a tradition, but two-stop strategies are the norm. In 2008, though, Felipe Massa attempted a one-stopper….and would have won had the fluctuating weather not forced him to make a supplementary tyre change.

Talking technical
Car dynamics
Average turn angle indicates the average angle of a circuit’s corners expressed in degrees. The higher the average turn angle, the more acute the corners in the circuit’s configuration and the greater propensity for understeer to compromise lap time. At Monaco, the average turn angle is 95 degrees, against a season average of 110 degrees, ranking it as the circuit with the 5th lowest average turn angle across the Championship.

The end of straight (EOS) speed at Monaco was 286kp/h in 2008. Monaco ranks as having the slowest EOS speed on the 2009 calendar, and this is one indicator of the wing level typically selected to optimise the downforce/drag ratio. Meanwhile, Monaco has the slowest average lap speed of any of the tracks on the calendar.

Pitlane & refuelling strategy
The pitlane length and profile (i.e. corners in the pitlane entry) contribute to the determination of the optimum fuel strategy. The pitlane loss at Monaco is approximately 17.8 seconds, the 14th most penalising pitlane in the Championship. To complete a normalised distance of 5km around the Monte Carlo circuit requires 2.58kg of fuel against an average of 2.42kg per 5km across all circuits this season, making the circuit the 2nd most demanding track of the year in terms of fuel consumption.

Safety car
Another key contributor to the determination of race strategy is the likelihood of safety car deployments, which are influenced by weather considerations, the availability of clear run-off areas that allow racing to continue while recovery takes place and the circuit profile, especially the character of the entry and exit into turn one at the start of the race. Since the 2000 Monaco Grand Prix, there have been 7 safety car deployments, making it statistically likely that the circuit’s character will induce safety car periods.

Temperature, pressure & humidity
As an example, it is a long observed tradition that drivers arriving at Interlagos complain about a lack of grip and an absence of engine power. Having become acquainted with a baseline of engine and aerodynamic performance during the season, the climb to 750 metres above sea level for one of the final races can, courtesy of the reduction in air density, rob a Formula One car of engine power, aerodynamic performance and cooling. The losses can come close to double digit percentages and thus have a very real impact on car performance. Air density is a factor of the prevailing ambient temperature, which varies most significantly by season, air pressure which is closely linked to altitude and, to a much smaller degree, by humidity. Thus if races are run at the same time each year, the factor that tends to have the greatest bearing on air density is elevation. Like half the races on the calendar, Monaco is close to sea level, ranging from 2m to 29m above, and has an average pressure (1,014 mbar).

What the drivers say

Thoughts after Europe’s opening Spanish round

Nico “In general, Spain wasn’t easy for us. We struggled to get the tyres up to temperature for qualifying on Saturday and then I had a balance problem with the rear of the car at random stages during the race which affected my ability to really push when I needed to. As a result, we didn’t get the result we wanted in Spain, but coming home with a point is always positive, particularly as we haven’t collected any recently.”

Kazuki “Spain was another difficult race for me. The incident on the first lap and subsequent pitstop dropped me to the back and I really couldn’t recover. We need to move on from that though and look for something more positive from Monaco.”

On Monaco

Kazuki “I hope we have a good car in Monaco, we normally do, and I need a better race this weekend. Although it’s not my favourite track to drive, I went well in Monaco last year going from 14th to 7th in my debut race to get two points for the team. With the new regulations this season, I think it will be quite a different experience in Monaco this year and the new slick tyres will really help with the grip levels. I just hope the race will be incident-free for me.”

Nico “Monaco should be a good race for us. Our car has traditionally gone really well there in the past few years and I believe it will be strong again this year. As we haven’t managed to get the results that our car deserves yet it would be great for everyone in the team if we came away with something positive from the weekend.”

On the principality

Nico “Monaco is my home town so all my friends and family will be there supporting me which will be great. Living within 100 metres of the track also makes life so much easier over the weekend as well.”

Kazuki “I know I should be more excited about Monaco, but it really is just another destination for me. The glitz and glamour is all a bit too much for me to really enjoy myself there so I’ll be keeping my usual routine of working hard at the track during the day and then having quiet evenings at the hotel, probably some training and treatment followed by a quick supper and an early night.”

On the most glamorous track on the calendar

Kazuki “Monte Carlo is an iconic destination for Formula One. The atmosphere is completely different to anywhere else we go and that can’t fail to make it a more exciting weekend than usual.”

Nico “To me, Monaco is my home so I’m used to it but it is a completely different place when Formula One is in town. Normally it’s quite quiet, just like anywhere really, but the Grand Prix weekend brings a different atmosphere to the place and that’s really special to be a part of.”

Ed
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Post by Ed » Fri May 22, 2009 1:58 am

MONACO GRAND PRIX PRACTICE

Objectives P1
• Chassis set-up work - new suspension components
• Aero performance analysis with the new Monaco package

Objectives P2
• Further chassis set-up work from a new baseline transferred between the cars for the start of P2
• Short and long run tyre tests for qualifying and the race

Conclusions - Sam Michael, Technical Director
“Today was a typical first day in Monaco. We have spent some time looking at the two tyres in the context of a track that is changing hugely compared to a normal track. As a street circuit, all the contaminants are getting cleaned off by the F1 rubber, so it’s too early to say where the car is. All the parts we brought here seem to be working well.”

Nico Rosberg
Runs P1: 1 install (new prime), 8 (new prime), 6 (scrubbed prime), 6 (scrubbed prime)
Runs P2: 5 (new option), 4 (scrubbed option), 10 (scrubbed prime), 9 (new prime), 9 (new option)

“We had a difficult start to the weekend and I really didn’t feel comfortable in the car because of a simple lack of grip to begin with. So we made plenty of set-up changes and we found a significant improvement.
By the end of P2, I was much happier and I would say there is more in the car as I had traffic and never really had a clean lap. We also suffered no problems or damage to the car which is a constant issue in Monaco. And let me say, it is great to drive on this track.”

Kazuki Nakajima
Runs P1: 1 install (new prime), 8 (scrubbed prime), 9 (scrubbed prime), 5 (scrubbed prime)
Runs P2: 3 (scrubbed prime), 5 (new option), 5 (scrubbed option), 9 (new prime), 9 (new option)
“This morning was good but for reasons we will look at tonight, the afternoon session was a bit difficult in the car. So I am hoping we can establish what was happening and use third practice to make sure I am well prepared for qualifying.”

Ed
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Post by Ed » Sun May 24, 2009 12:57 am

MONACO GRAND PRIX QUALIFYING
SATURDAY 23 MAY, 2009

In a tactically critical qualifying session for the Monaco Grand Prix, the AT&T Williams team secured two top ten grid slots, with Kazuki Nakajima equalling a career-best tenth place start for tomorrow’s race. Meanwhile, team-mate Nico Rosberg professed himself less than happy by finishing the session on the third row of the provisional grid, but is nonetheless confident of a strong race performance at his home Grand Prix.

Nico Rosberg:
The first two sessions went fine today, but I was not happy with the final conclusion in Q3. P6 was not where I wanted to be and it should have been better. I had some balance problems in the last run and some traffic, particularly with Barrichello on my fastest lap, so I didn’t manage to make the best of the circumstances. Anyway, that’s the way it has played out and we just need to make the best of it. There is still the opportunity to have a good race tomorrow from a reasonable starting position, so I am still of the view that anything is possible.

Kazuki Nakajima:
It was a good session for me, it is of course the first time I have made it into Q3 this season, so I do want to say thanks to the team for preparing a good car. I am pleased that I achieved a top ten slot as obviously grid position is crucial here and this is not a very easy track. I am confident I can have a good race tomorrow and our start position will certainly give me the chance to improve on our recent results.

Sam Michael, Technical Director:
The car performance was strong today but unfortunately we didn’t get the best out of Q3 with Nico. Kazuki had no more option tyres to use in the final session, hence his P10 position and different strategy. It is good to have both cars in Q3 and we look forward to racing for points tomorrow.

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Post by Ed » Mon May 25, 2009 1:54 am

MONACO GRAND PRIX RACE
SUNDAY 24 MAY, 2009

The AT&T Williams team claimed a handful of points in the blue riband Monaco Grand Prix today after Nico Rosberg claimed a creditable sixth position, in the process demonstrating some of the standout overtaking manoeuvres in the early part of the race despite the constraints of the narrow street circuit. The FW31 showed good inherent pace around the streets of the Principality, but both drivers were unable to press any advantage home and after the rounds of pitstops had played out, both drivers reverted to their original grid positions out on the track. Nico’s team-mate Kazuki Nakajima took a different direction with a long fuelled first stint that saw him hold his grid position almost to the finish, but a late accident on lap 76 concluded his Monaco race.

Nico Rosberg:
I’ve got to be happy with sixth place today, more just wasn’t possible and we did the best we could have in the circumstances. It was a great start with lots going on, but I managed to come through and it set me up well for the early phase of the race. We then did a long middle stint on primes as we were worried about the durability of the option tyre, but they seemed to hold on much better than expected in the last stint, perhaps due to the amount of rubber down on the circuit by the end of the race. That said, I always enjoy racing here, it is a huge challenge that requires you to be inch perfect and it was very demanding out there.

Kazuki Nakajima:
The start and the initial part of the race was good for me, but ultimately it was frustrating as I always seemed to be picking up traffic out of the pitlane or responding to blue flags and then losing track position to the one-stoppers. In the final analysis the outcome was disappointing, I was on the option tyre and I was pushing perhaps too hard when I had my accident nearly at the finish, but at least I had a good feeling with the car today.

Sam Michael, Technical Director:
It was good to collect some points today and Nico drove well, unfortunately we were on a compromise strategy as a result of yesterday’s qualifying, so it was always going to be quite difficult for Nico to beat the guys around him, but he did well to earn some points. It was difficult to progress Kazuki somewhere like Monaco where you can’t overtake.
The car was good in terms of pace around here and if we keep pushing the development, the performance will start to show through.

Ed
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Post by Ed » Wed May 27, 2009 10:53 pm

FOTA SUSPENDS WILLIAMSF1 FROM WORKING GROUP

Following Monday’s confirmation that the team has submitted its formal entry for the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship, the Formula One Teams Association has today decided temporarily to suspend Williams F1 from membership of FOTA.

Frank Williams, Team Principal: “FOTA’s decision, although regrettable, is understandable. However, as a racing team and a company whose only business is Formula One, with obligations to our partners and our employees, submitting our entry to next year’s Championship was unquestionable. In addition, we are legally obliged under our contract with FOM and the FIA to participate in the World Championship until the end of 2012.”

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Post by Ed » Mon Jun 01, 2009 10:50 pm

Turkish Grand Prix Preview

Istanbul Park in a nutshell
This relatively new addition to the Formula One calendar, it staged its first race in 2005, was greeted as an instant classic. Turn Eight, a long, fast left-hander, is adored by drivers who regard it as one of the season’s most testing corners. It generates more friction energy than anywhere else on the calendar and can also influence race strategy.

Talking technical

Car dynamics
Average turn angle indicates the average angle of a circuit’s corners expressed in degrees. The higher the average turn angle, the more acute the corners in the circuit’s configuration and the greater propensity for understeer to compromise lap time. At Istanbul Park, the average turn angle is 134 degrees, against a season average of 110 degrees, ranking it as the circuit with the 3rd highest average turn angle across the Championship.
The end of straight (EOS) speed at Istanbul Park was 314kp/h in 2008. Istanbul ranks as having the 3rd fastest EOS speed on the 2009 calendar, and this is one indicator of the wing level typically selected to optimise the downforce/drag ratio. Meanwhile, Turkey has the 5th highest average lap speed of any of the tracks on the calendar.

Pitlane & refuelling strategy
The pitlane length and profile (i.e. corners in the pitlane entry) contribute to the determination of the optimum fuel strategy. The pitlane loss at Istanbul Park is approximately 18.5 seconds, the 13th most penalising pitlane in the Championship. To complete a normalised distance of 5km around Istanbul Park requires 2.49kg of fuel against an average of 2.42kg per 5km across all circuits this season, making the circuit the 5th most demanding track of the year in terms of fuel consumption.

Safety car
Another key contributor to the determination of race strategy is the likelihood of safety car deployments, which are influenced by weather considerations, the availability of clear run-off areas that allow racing to continue while recovery takes place and the circuit profile, especially the character of the entry and exit into turn one at the start of the race. Since the inaugural Turkish Grand Prix in 2005, there have been 2 safety car deployments, which means that there is a 50% chance that the circuit’s character will induce a safety car period.

Temperature, pressure & humidity
As an example, it is a long observed tradition that drivers arriving at Interlagos complain about a lack of grip and an absence of engine power. Having become acquainted with a baseline of engine and aerodynamic performance during the season, the climb to 750 metres above sea level for one of the final races can, courtesy of the reduction in air density, rob a Formula One car of engine power, aerodynamic performance and cooling. The losses can come close to double digit percentages and thus have a very real impact on car performance. Air density is a factor of the prevailing ambient temperature, which varies most significantly by season, air pressure which is closely linked to altitude and, to a much smaller degree, by humidity. Thus if races are run at the same time each year, the factor that tends to have the greatest bearing on air density is elevation. Istanbul is 125m above sea level and has a relatively low pressure of 999.75 mbar, so engine power will be lower than at Monaco, which was at sea level.

What the drivers say

Thoughts on Monaco

Nico “I had hoped for slightly more than sixth place in Monaco. Having found a really good set-up, I felt I had settled into the track well and was comfortable in the car. That showed in practice on Saturday and then during Qs1 and 2 of qualifying. Only getting sixth in Q3 because I was caught up behind Barrichello on my fastest lap, was therefore disappointing. I was pushing hard in the race and passed Massa and Vettel early on, but our pace wasn’t quick enough to finish any higher than sixth. That’s still a solid result for us though and we’re hoping for more in the next few races.”

Kazuki “After getting into the top ten in qualifying for the first time this year, I was hoping for a decent result in Monaco. The opening laps went well and I made a clean start, but then it became quite a frustrating race for me with lots of traffic and then getting caught up in other drivers’ one-stop strategies. In the end, I crashed out as I was just pushing a bit too hard.”

Thinking about Istanbul Park

Kazuki “Turkey is one of the few tracks we race on in an anti-clockwise direction so that puts a lot of pressure on our necks. With lateral loads reaching 4.5g, I’ll be doing lots of neck work before the race to prepare. I don’t have much experience of the track as I was knocked out of last year’s race on the first lap, but it’s a circuit which tends to suit our car with its mix of long and short straights, several corners for overtaking and then there’s turn eight – a triple apexer where we’ll hit speeds of 250km/h. It’ll be challenging, but I can’t wait to get going.”

Nico “Turkey is usually a good track for us and we should be able to score points there. I like the circuit, and it’s a completely different proposition to where we’ve just come from. There are definitely some good overtaking opportunities around the lap as the track stretches to about 20m wide at one point and there are lots of large braking zones.”

Can we expect some Turkish delight?

Nico “We’ll have some upgrades for Turkey, so I really hope that maybe we can make a step forward and pick up points. It’s so difficult at the moment though. There are teams that have come from behind us and are now in front, like Ferrari, and then teams like Red Bull, Brawn and Toyota are still ahead of us. It’s going to be very challenging for us to score points, but I really hope that we can beat one or two of those cars with the upgrades we’ll have. We need to keep getting a handful of points from each race.”

Kazuki “I hope so. I haven’t had the best run recently, I know that, and I need to turn it round and get some good, solid finishes.”

On Turkey

Kazuki “It’s certainly not as glamorous as Monaco but I quite like that! The one thing I don’t like, though, is the traffic! As usual, I won’t be going out much. I’ll stick to my team hotel and have some quiet dinners with my trainer and the mechanics and focus on the job in hand.”

Nico “I really enjoy going to Turkey. It’s a great cosmopolitan city and I enjoy visiting its different elements, like the bazaar, the cool restaurants or even some of the very ancient sites. I also love my photography and it’s a perfect place to take some pictures.”

Ed
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Post by Ed » Sat Jun 06, 2009 12:04 am

TURKISH GRAND PRIX PRACTICE

Objectives P1
• Aero and mechanical set-up work
• Evaluation of ride stiffness

Objectives P2
• Short and long run tyre tests
• Further mechanical set-up work

Conclusions - Sam Michael, Technical Director
“We had a reasonable day in terms of keeping to our schedule and completing the work that we needed to do. We’ve brought some new parts here, all of which are working well. Today proved useful in that we’ve collected some important set-up information which we will look at this evening in order to make the best decisions for tomorrow’s qualifying and then Sunday’s race. We then spent the majority of the afternoon looking at ways to extract the most from the two tyres that Bridgestone have brought here.”

Nico Rosberg
Runs P1: 1 install (new prime), 6 (scrubbed prime), 6 (scrubbed prime), 5 (scrubbed prime)
Runs P2: 2 (scrubbed prime), 10 (new prime), 4 (new option), 2 (scrubbed option), 3 (new option), 6 (scrubbed option)

“I think that the new aero parts we’ve brought out here are working as we expected them to, which is good. Having said that, levels of progress are always calculated in relation to other people and we are never sure where the others are, especially on a Friday. Today’s sessions were mainly about tyre testing. We covered a lot of ground with them, particularly in the afternoon session, so we now have a better understanding of how both the option and prime are working, but we will have another look at them tomorrow morning to figure out how to get the most out of them. It’s clear that tyre choice will be an interesting call for both qualifying and the race.”

Kazuki Nakajima
Runs P1: 1 install (new prime), 7 (scrubbed prime), 3 (scrubbed prime), 4 (scrubbed prime)
Runs P2: 5 (scrubbed prime), 4 (new prime), 4 (new option), 10 (scrubbed option), 4 (new option)

“It was quite a strange practice day, especially the afternoon’s session when we tried the prime and option tyre compares. The tyres really weren’t working well today. I think our car is fairly quick, but we need to wait and check the data to see how we can get the best out of the tyres.”

Ed
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Post by Ed » Sat Jun 06, 2009 11:41 pm

TURKISH GRAND PRIX QUALIFYING
SATURDAY 6 JUNE, 2009

Today’s qualifying for the Turkish Grand Prix at the purpose-built Istanbul Park circuit saw AT&T Williams’ Nico Rosberg keep up his season-long run of Q3 performances, setting the ninth fastest time of the session’s deciding round. Team mate Kazuki Nakajima secured the 12th quickest time of the afternoon and will therefore take a place on the sixth row of the grid for tomorrow’s race.

Nico Rosberg:
It really wasn’t easy to choose between the soft and the hard compound to do your fastest lap on today, or to keep a balanced car while changing between the two. I ended up with some understeer and maybe a lost a position because of that, but I’m on the clean side of the grid tomorrow, which will help us to get a good start and maybe gain some positions. Since we also have a good race car, we will be targeting points, which is important for us as a team.

Kazuki Nakajima:
It was fairly a difficult qualifying session as the tyre choice was quite hard. We weren’t entirely sure whether the prime or the option would be better as there wasn’t much in it between the two and this morning’s practice didn’t really clarify things. In Q1, I struggled with the option so we selected the prime for Q2, but unfortunately that wasn’t much of an improvement and I didn’t get the performance I wanted. It’s going to be difficult to get into the points, but P12 is ok and I will be fighting hard.

Sam Michael, Technical Director:
Q1 and Q2 were ok for both drivers, with Nico setting a time just four tenths shy of the fastest time in Q2. When the fuel went in for Nico’s Q3 run, we weren’t quite as strong as we wanted to be but we’ll find out what fuel loads everyone else will be running later this evening. I’m sure both drivers will be in a position to fight for points from their grid slots though. We didn’t have any reliability issues and the improvements we’ve made to the car are working. Again, the competition is fierce as can be seen from how close the times are.

Ed
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Post by Ed » Mon Jun 08, 2009 1:50 am

TURKISH GRAND PRIX RACE
SUNDAY 7 JUNE, 2009

The AT&T Williams team today enjoyed their best finish of the season to date with Nico Rosberg’s fifth place at the Turkish Grand Prix. Both drivers made strong starts, Kazuki gaining two positions off the line promoting him to P10, while Nico progressed from ninth on the grid to P5 by the end of lap one, the position in which he ended the race. Running in P7 ahead of his second and final stop, the potential for a season first points-paying place for Kazuki was removed by a sticky wheel nut. The extended pitstop put him back out in 12th where he concluded the race. Nico’s four points promotes the team to sixth in the Constructors’ Championship.

Nico Rosberg:
I am happy with fifth place and happy for the team as well because this is a good result. I had a great start, which I have to thank my engineers for as it went exactly as I’d hoped it would, and by the end of the first lap I’d managed to make up four positions. From there, I pushed hard to get past Trulli, and I thought I could because my pace was good, but he had a quicker car today. I hope we can keep up this momentum and score points at every race. At the moment, I would say we can consistently be in the top eight.

Kazuki Nakajima:
I had a good start and a strong first lap. Everything was then going well until the second stop. What happened was a real shame as I think that was probably the best race of my career so far. Basewise, we were competitive today, so thanks to the team for a good car and a solid strategy which allowed me to beat Raikkonen and Alonso on the track. We will just have to learn from the mistake in the pitstop and hope for a better result next time.

Sam Michael, Technical Director:
It was good to score four points. Nico had a fantastic start and drove a strong race to fifth. It was a shame that we had the problem during the pitstop on Kazuki’s car when the front left wheel nut became stuck. If not for that, he would have finished in a well deserved seventh place. To come away with four points though is a good day for the team.

Ed
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Post by Ed » Fri Jun 12, 2009 10:57 pm

AT&T WILLIAMS TEAM 2010 ENTRY CONFIRMED

The AT&T Williams team is pleased to confirm that its entry to the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship has been accepted by the FIA.

Frank Williams, Team Principal, said "2010 will be my 42nd consecutive season in Formula One. We are already designing the main elements of next year's FW32 which will build on the useful step forward taken with the FW31."

Julian Mayo
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Post by Julian Mayo » Sat Jun 13, 2009 6:17 am

Ed wrote:AT&T WILLIAMS TEAM 2010 ENTRY CONFIRMED

The AT&T Williams team is pleased to confirm that its entry to the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship has been accepted by the FIA.

Frank Williams, Team Principal, said "2010 will be my 42nd consecutive season in Formula One. We are already designing the main elements of next year's FW32 which will build on the useful step forward taken with the FW31."
Around which brand of engine, Frank ???????
The Mountain is a savage Mistress.

Ed
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Post by Ed » Sat Jun 20, 2009 7:55 am

BRITISH GRAND PRIX PRACTICE

Objectives P1
• Analysis of new aero components
• Mechanical set-up work

Objectives P2
• Performance evaluations with low and high fuel loads
• Further mechanical set-up work and tyre comparisons

Conclusions - Sam Michael, Technical Director
“That was a good Friday session. We ran through lots of checks with the new parts we‘ve brought here for this race. We’ll go through the data tonight, but everything is working well. We also completed our usual tyre evaluations and cooling checks.”

Nico Rosberg
Runs P1: 1 install (new prime), 8 (scrubbed prime), 6 (scrubbed prime), 11 (scrubbed prime)
Runs P2: 3 (scrubbed prime), 11 (new prime), 11 (new option), 4 (new option), 3 (scrubbed option)

“We tried a few things, especially with the car’s aerodynamics, and we definitely learned a lot. The wind made things quite difficult though so it wasn’t so straightforward to find the right set-up direction today, but we made the best of it. It’s always a compromise between the quick corners in the first sector and the slow corners in the last sector. Tyre-wise, maybe the option isn’t quite as good as we would have hoped, but it’s still the better tyre here.”

Kazuki Nakajima
Runs P1: 1 install (new prime), 8 (scrubbed prime), 6 (scrubbed prime), 5 (scrubbed prime)
Runs P2: 4 (scrubbed prime), 6 (new prime), 8 (new option), 10 (new option)

“Today’s sessions went well for us. I was caught up in quite a bit of traffic in the early runs, but managed to get some clear air later on. We tried many different set-ups with the car; some of which were quite interesting, so we now need to look at the data in preparation for tomorrow’s qualifying.”

SESSION 1 SESSION 2
AIR & TRACK TEMP 14 - 160C / 19 - 280C 16 - 170C / 28 - 340C
WEATHER Mild but windy Cold but partly sunny
N ROSBERG 1:20.815 (9th) 32 LAPS 1:20.468 (9th) 42 LAPS Chassis FW31-03 Engine H453
K NAKAJIMA 1:21.489 (17th) 26 LAPS 1:20.209 (4th) 36 LAPS Chassis FW31-04 Engine H455

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