Belgian GP: Williams fail to make it past Q1
By Williams F1 Team
August 25 2013
Qualifying for the 2013 Belgian GP would see the Williams F1 team fail to have either driver make it past Q1. The team would be caught out by the variable weather and track conditions that would see them fail to gain the best from improving track conditions. Pastor Maldonado will start fropm 17th and Valtteri Bottas 20th.
| Williams Belgian GP Qualifying Review |
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Qualifying Notes • Pastor Maldonado qualified 17th with Valtteri Bottas 20th for tomorrows Belgian Grand Prix. • Both drivers went out early on intermediate tyres on a drying track, but as the track conditions improved their tyres were past their best and they were not able to progress into Q2. • The FW35’s stronger race pace means that the team will be looking to make up places in the race tomorrow |
Pastor Maldonado:  "Today
the changing weather conditions made it difficult to be on the right
tyres at the right time and we went on to the intermediate tyre a bit
too early. The lap here is very long and by the time I got to my second
lap when the track was improving, the tyres had already gone and I
couldn’t be competitive. The cars race pace is quite good so we will be
pushing hard to make up places and I still think we have an opportunity
to finish in the top 10."
|
Valtteri Bottas: "It
was a disappointing qualifying because we had the ability to be higher
but we were caught out by the changing track conditions. We went out on
intermediate tyres earlier than others but the track was drying faster
than we expected and by the end we could probably have got away with
being on dry tyres. We were also struggling for overall grip on the
intermediates and we were sliding quite a lot in the corners and this
was losing us time. It’s a shame as there was a good opportunity to do
well today, but hopefully the weather will be like this tomorrow as it
gives us the chance to look at different strategy options. "
|
Xevi Pujolar, Chief Race
Engineer: "We
knew qualifying would be wet and it started well with the track getting
better throughout Q1. The end of the session would be where it was all
decided and we brought both cars in for a new set of intermediate tyres.
A few teams took the risk to change onto dry tyres, which worked for
them, although the majority came in for intermediates as well. We were
at the front of the queue so had time for more laps, but as the tyres
were at their best on the first lap it meant that as the track improved
we were unable to improve our times and unfortunately we did not
progress beyond Q1. Overtaking is possible at Spa-Francorchamps and we
have a good car for the race with a good top speed, so we can still make
progress in the race tomorrow."
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Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium 7.004 kms / 4.352 miles |
Weather: Cloudy with some rain | ||||
|
POS |
DRIVER |
TEAM |
Q1 |
Q2 |
Q3 |
|
1 |
L Hamilton |
Mercedes | 2:00.368 | 1:49.067 | 2:01.012 |
|
2 |
S Vettel | Red Bull | 1:31.269 | 1:48.646 | 2:01.200 |
| 3 | M Webber | Red Bull | 2:01.597 | 1:48.641 | 2:01.325 |
| 17 |
P Maldonado FW35 02 RS27-5484/2 |
Williams F1 Team | 2:03.072 | - | - |
| 20 |
V Bottas |
Williams F1 Team | 2:03.432 | - | - |
 |
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Belgian GP: Williams fail to make it past Q1
Posted by: Williams F1 (IP Logged)
Date: 25/08/2013 05:26
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