After the lengthy summer break the Williams F1 team moves to the Spa circuit for the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix. After a fairly successful first half of the F1 season the team is hoping to build on this with another points scoring finish.
Mark Gillan, Chief
Operations Engineer:
It’s great to be back racing again after the August break and the whole
team has been preparing eagerly for the remaining nine races, eight of
which are back to back. Spa is a fantastic circuit and an excellent
challenge for the drivers and car alike. We’re expecting rain at the
beginning of the weekend but are hopeful for a dry qualifying and race.
Setting the correct wing level with DRS is crucial around this track and
one tends to see a number of different aerodynamic solutions. Pirelli
are bringing their hard and medium tyres which were last used way back
in Malaysia.
Bruno Senna:
We’ve had a good streak of races recently and I had a solid result in
Hungary so I’m looking forward to keeping the momentum going. Spa is one
of my favourite tracks and I raced there last year with the Pirelli
tyres so that knowledge will help with our performance this time around.
Qualifying will be important and I’m looking to get into Q3 like I did
in the last race and from there hopefully score some good points for the
team.
Pastor Maldonado:
Spa is a very special circuit for me because I’ve had a lot of success
there in the past and I really enjoy the layout. The circuit also has a
lot of history so it’s a race that you want to do well at. It will also
be interesting to see the performance of the other teams and find out
who has made gains since we last raced. I’m looking forward to getting
going again after the summer break and hopefully we can build on the
good progress we’ve shown so far this season and have a strong run of
results in the second half of the year.
Rémi Taffin, Head of
Renault Sport F1 Track Operations:
The driver will encounter every sort of corner possible so we have to
get the RS27 to perform over all levels of torque and revs. The engine
needs to deliver good top end power for the long straights, yet a smooth
power curve through the flowing corners like Blanchimont. Response is
also key out of the slower hairpins and chicanes. We actually use Spa as
a control circuit on the dyno to test an engine’s reliability as it puts
so much stress on the internal parts. With such huge demands exerted,
we’ll be introducing fresh engines for this race.
Paul Hembery, Pirelli
Motorsport Director:
Spa is one of the most demanding circuits of the year for our tyres
because of the high levels of energy they are subjected to, which is why
we have selected the P Zero Silver hard and P Zero White medium
compounds: a combination that was last used in Malaysia at the start of
the year. The other important factor in Spa is the weather, as rain is a
very frequent occurrence: sometimes with wet conditions affecting just
one part of the circuit while the rest remains dry. Consequently there
are many interesting opportunities to formulate a number of different
strategies over the course of this very long race.
Race Data Friday:
Practice 1: 10:00 - 11:30
Practice 2: 14:00 - 15:30 Saturday:
Practice 3: 11:00 - 12:00
Qualifying: 14:00 – 15:00 Sunday: Race: 14:00
Belgian GP: Williams F1 Grand Prix Preview
Posted by: Williams F1 (IP Logged)
Date: 29/08/2012 12:19
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Looks like williams will try that new shaped rear wing again, it also looks like there could be an extra hole or 2 on the front of the nose cone, check out sutton images.
There are actually some holes on the FW34 nose. Whatever it is, I hope it works!
Btw. It is going to be cold in Belgium. I thought Lotus is the main contender here, but they were always better in high temperatures and this is going to be exact reverse at Spa.
That's not your fault tbh. I saw a lower resolution photo with one of those stupid copyright stamps over the scuff and it looked like an oval hole. That's why I went hunting for a high res one. I'm just as disappointed as you are lol.
I think we're one of the teams that don't really struggle in any type of weather conditions. Or maybe our drivers aren't consistent enough to draw this type of conclusions.
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