| It was
revealed by WilliamF1 Chief Operations Engineer Sam Michael that prior to
the start of the Spanish Grand Prix the team made a decision to reduce the
size of the brake ducts, which help in cooling, in order to improve the
aerodynamics of the FW26.
 Even
though the Circuit de Catalunya is not heavy on brakes going down this path
was a gamble, which for both drivers would be a costly mistake. Juan Pablo
would retire from the race on the 46th lap with brake failure and Ralf would
struggle with brakes during the race.
Michael said: "We just stepped over the limit here really. We decided to go
for smaller brake ducts to get more aerodynamic performance out of the car
and clearly it was the wrong decision. We knew what we did was very risky
but we took the risk because we wanted the performance.
"We thought we could manage it in the race but it turned out that we
couldn't on Juan's car."
As a result of this error the WilliamsF1 team would only come away with
three points from Spain and they would see their rivals, now including
Renault and BAR not just Ferrari, draw away in the points.
Technical Director Patrick Head added: "Obviously we were not racing in the
form in which we were testing but that is part of the development. We will
correct our mistake and go out and race at the next race. In the recent past
its not been brilliant for us here but not as poor as today.
"But one of the good things about Formula One is that providing you do the
right things you get the chance to put it in two weeks time. I think
different teams have done better or worse jobs at different tracks and here
we are looking at a poor performance from the team and we will be better
next time." |
