WilliamsF1 Team Reactions Turkish Grand Prix

By WilliamsF1 Team
August 27 2006

Reactions ... Turkish Grand Prix

Mark Webber: Chassis: Chassis FW28 03, engine CA2006/012, 1st GP: 10th "It was going fine until the safety car period given our plans to go long. I just managed to clear the safety car before it came out on the track, and then I pitted. The stint following the first stop was very hard to keep going because I was carrying quite a bit of fuel and had very poor rear grip. The last stint was much better, but then it was too late. All in all it was disappointing not to make it into the points today, but circumstances weren’t easy for us."

Nico Rosberg: Chassis FW28 05, engine CA2006/018, 2nd GP: DNF "On the one hand it was a good day for me today because I had a good start and was also able to claim several places on the first lap due to the accidents. But the main positive aspect today was that the car felt good and I had confidence in it in contrast to yesterday. We made a few electronic changes before going to the grid and they really helped. Racing was great fun again and I was pushing without being worried about making mistakes – it was good to see our car showing a strong pace. The other side to the day was much more disappointing. Half way through the race my engineer told me we had lost water pressure. It was a disappointment not to make it to the end."

Chris Jilbert, Principal Engineer, F1 Race Engineering, Cosworth: "Today’s race was one of very mixed fortunes indeed. Both cars were looking very well placed following the incident on the first lap, with Mark & Nico gaining positions. Nico’s car developed a water leak before his first pit stop, at which point we had no option but to call him in, which was a great shame given his strong performance. Unfortunately Mark was unable to capitalise on his early gains, finishing outside the points. The engines have been reliable, but again we have been very unfortunate not to get both cars to the end of the race."

Sam Michael Technical Director WilliamsF1 "Today was disappointing because we looked good for some points. We had a long first stint strategy today, so the safety car on lap two was the worst thing that could have happened. We took the decision at that point to split the strategies by bringing Mark in and leaving Nico out, but it was pretty difficult to recover from this situation. Both Mark and Nico drove well, had good starts and first laps, but we had a failure in the water system on Nico’s car and we will have to investigate this further to establish the cause. We’ll look forward now to bringing some improvements to the car for Monza."