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SYNOPSIS:
AT&T Williams initially struggled to repeat the form they had shown in the
pre-race official test, during which Alex Wurz recorded the second quickest
time of the week and both drivers demonstrated consistently quick long run
pace as well as highly competitive single lap times. A wide range of set-up
adjustments were programmed across the Friday practice sessions, but neither
driver began to find an optimisation until Saturday morning.
 Rosberg
managed to capitalise on this progress with a highly proficient set of
qualifying runs in Q2 & Q3; however, Alex Wurz’s Saturday afternoon was
curtailed by the failure of a minor gearbox component which left him unable
to select gears and complete a flying lap as Q1 drew to a close. The failure
was highly non-symptomatic as the Williams second-generation seamless
transmission has proved to be dependably reliable during its winter
development, whether on track or during dyno testing.
Sunday’s race again reflected a contrast of fortunes for the two drivers,
but on this occasion it was Rosberg who suffered. After a good first stint,
when he had managed to pass Kubica to reclaim a place lost at the start and
recorded the 6th quickest lap of the race, engineers noted a progressive
loss of water pressure indicative of a leak. The only remedial action
available to the race engineers was to reduce the operating parameters of
the engine after the first stop, followed by another incremental decrease
following the second stop. However, 13 laps from the flag, the problem
proved to be terminal. Post-race analysis is continuing in Grove and Cologne
at the time of writing.
In contrast, Alex Wurz enjoyed a more successful race, particularly in the
first stint during which he moved from p19 to p11. Alex was able to improve
his placing to p9 by the end of the third stint and running on the less
favoured hard compound to the flag, successfully defending against a push
from Mark Webber who was by contrast running on the quicker medium compound.
TYRES & FUEL:
Both Alex and Nico two stopped stopped and ran medium, medium and hard
compounds respectively in the three stints. Alex was fuelled two laps
lighter than Nico for the start in order to allow him to challenge
effectively from the back of the field. Rosberg ran to lap 19, with the
earliest two-stopper, Massa, stopping two laps earlier and only five cars
running longer, the last completing their first stop on lap 23.
POINTS: ROSBERG 2pts, 7th= PLACE, WURZ 0pt, WILLIAMS 2pts 6th PLACE
SYSTEMS & RELIABILITY:
Kazuki Nakajima suffered a quickly resolved gear selection fault after his
spin in FP1; as noted, Wurz’s unrelated gearbox selection failure in Q1 was
caused by the failure of a minor component, although an accurate
determination will require analysis at the factory. Rosberg’s DNF was caused
by a water leak which thermally overloaded the engine.
NEXT EVENTS:
With a back-to-back race in Bahrain next week, the team will have limited
opportunity for further development, but will be seeking to maintain its
improved qualifying pace which is now a match for its typical long run form
and showed the ability to compete in a group that includes BMW and Renault.
However, diagnosis and rectification of the problems that caused Rosberg’s
retirement at Sepang will also be a key objective.
SAM MICHAEL:
“The weekend was one of contrasts in many respects, from the changing
fortunes of the drivers to the marked improvements we have made with the
car, but yet the disappointment caused by Nico’s race retirement. It was a
tough weekend, as it followed a long test and the track conditions had
changed - which is normal. That meant we had to move the setup quite a lot
during the race weekend, but perseverance paid off and we found a good
optimisation by Saturday morning. On the plus side, we have moved the car
forward to be able to qualify it at a level more reflective of our race pace
but on the other hand we have some work to do to ensure reliability does not
compromise all this hard work. We have made significant improvements to our
reliability over the winter, but we are not there yet. All drivers did a
good job, from Kazuki’s contribution on Friday to the impressive lap Nico
managed in Q3 and his strong start to the race and of course Alex’s
determined drive to improve his start position by ten places at the end of
the race.” |
