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SYNOPSIS:
The team had a difficult start to the weekend when a newly introduced
gearbox
component failed in both cars in the first practice session on Friday. This
required both drivers to sit out the session while remedial work was
undertaken. While Kazuki had an untroubled second session and started to
gain valuable track time, Nico’s differential lock was not working and it
was not possible to correct during the session. The decision was taken to
continue practice albeit the car was far from optimal. Saturday morning’s
practice was thus important in order to progress set-up work with both cars
running at full pace without any reliability issues. Qualifying was
compromised by the red flag in Q2, with Rosberg having to contest Q3 on used
option tyres and Kazuki losing the
opportunity for a second flying lap.
 Rosberg had a very strong start to the Grand Prix on Sunday, moving up three
places to fourth on the first lap. He held station in this position for the
first stint, climbing up to second as cars ahead of him made their first
stops. Kazuki by contrast had an eventful first lap, finding Vettel’s Toro
Rosso sideways across the track blocking his way in turn one. The collision
required a return to the pits for a new nose assembly.
Rosberg completed his two stop plan largely unaffected by the various safety
car
periods, but a decision was taken on the pitwall to modify Kazuki’s strategy
to a single stop. A hard charge by Rosberg prior to his second stop enabled
him from lap 49 to hold third place to the flag. Kazuki however visited the
pits for a third time after damage to the front of his car in an incident
involving Robert Kubica’s BMW when a train of cars backed up into a corner.
He rejoined to finish in seventh place and drove strongly to the end. He was
subsequently promoted to sixth following Barrichello’s disqualification for
not observing the pitlane red light.
The absence of traction control contributed to an eventful race. As Nico
Rosberg
commented, “We saw lots of incidents in yesterday’s race, due I am sure in
part to the Grand Prix being the first since the banning of traction
control. As much as thanking the team for everything they did, I have to say
a big thank you to Toyota too as one of the most significant virtues of our
engine is that is very driveable. This was a great asset to have since the
loss of driver aids and helped me to have a strong race considering that
only seven cars made it home.”
1 Kazuki pitted on three occasions on laps 1, 29 & 48, making his first and
last stop for a new nose.
TYRES & FUEL:
Nico Rosberg Medium-Medium-Soft
Kazuki Nakajima Medium-Medium-Soft-Medium
Nico Rosberg Stop 1, lap 21 (Kovalainen only two-stopping car to run
further)
Kazuki Nakajima Modified strategy to one stop.
SYSTEMS & RELIABILITY:
Both FW30s demonstrated 100% reliability during the race, although Friday
practice was interrupted by two resolvable faults with the transmission..
NEXT EVENTS:
The team is currently in transit to Malaysia for this weekend’s Malaysian
Grand Prix. Nico Rosberg will attend a driver day in Singapore for RBS on
Tuesday 18 March.
SAM MICHAEL:
“It was a good start to the season for us. Clearly
Friday’s problems, which were easily resolved, cost us the opportunity to
progress smoothly but we managed to get back on track by Saturday, albeit
our qualifying session was not optimal. Both drivers performed well in
different ways during the race, Nico keeping clear of the various on-track
incidents and running competitively throughout the race, while Kazuki
demonstrated a calm approach in coping with the various problems he
encountered to finish in the points. Approaching this weekend’s race at
Sepang, we will be focusing on preparing better on Friday to help our
qualifying and race effort.” |
