Williams Barcelona Test Abandoned

After having to call a halt to the first day of the teams Barcelona test due to a front wing failure on Kazuki Nakajima's car, that saw his crash heavily, the second of the test would get underway after the team had flown new parts from their factory. But the team would announce that the test was to be abandoned due to continuing issues.

After the day one problems it was reported that the team had flown the parts in using team owner Frank Williams' private plane. Both Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima were able to return to testing shortly before midday. Prior to the midday break Nico completed six laps and Kazuki three. In an interview with autosport.com Kazuki spoke of the accident. He said: "I was on full throttle when suddenly the downforce went to the back, as I went into the first corner.

"I didn't know what was happening, and I could see where I was going - the run-off area is not that big, and I could see i was going for the wall.

"This time last year I had a huge accident in the back of the track; that was then the biggest accident [I ever had]. But then, I was going completely backwards - so maybe it is better if you don't see what is in front of you...

"But this one is pretty big, and I still didn't know if it was my fault or not when I returned to the pits. Later I could see from the data [that it was a mechanical failure]. So I am OK, no problems. I had my physio look at my neck too, and it seems fine."

But just as quickly as the test had resumed the Williams team would announce that they were abandoning their Barcelona test after failing to fully resolve the front wing problems that brought a halt to testing on day one.

A Williams spokesman make this announcement: "We had a reliability issue with the front wing at Barcelona during testing. We could not implement an appropriate short term solution so we decided to return to the factory to address it in time for the Jerez test in just over a week's time."

Technical director Sam Michael said to autosport.com: "We had some issues with the wing, which we could not resolve during this test at short notice. ," Michael told autosport.com. "We have decided to return to the factory, so we can put in place a solid solution for the Jerez test in a week's time."

For the team these issues had dampened the feeling that the new FW30 was a step forward. But for team driver Nakajima he is confident the problems will be fixed.

Kazuki said to autosport.com: "We had the modified wing but it was decided that we needed further modifications back at the factory, plus we had other mechanical issues we needed to look at.

Kazuki added: "It was a 180 degree turn from the good test of Valencia. When I went out the first time (with the modified wing) it took a long time to warm up the tyres and there was not enough grip, and Nico also expressed the same views.

"I think we need to relook at the issues back in the UK and prepare for Jerez. It was an overnight preparation [to prepare this modified wing], so we need more time and data.

"Barcelona is a very high speed, bumpy track and this wing issue became apparent on this type of circuit. We will aim to be OK for Jerez."