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SYNOPSIS:
The AT&T Williams team maintained a high level of car development and
brought a detailed aero upgrade to the Nürburgring, comprising a new front
wing as well as diffuser and engine cover modifications. The upgrade was
validated during Friday’s practice sessions and remained on the car for the
remainder of the weekend. A change in direction on Friday and Saturday
morning, intended to help the team prepare for Q3, meant that the team
didn’t expect to run at the top of the timesheets in practice. The team also
introduced a wheel modification to assist in the pit stops and this design
change was validated on one car and will be raced on both FW31s in Hungary.
Both Friday and Saturday’s running was dominated by gusty wind conditions
and low track temperatures, making tyre warm-up difficult. In Saturday
afternoon’s qualifying session, both Nico and Kazuki progressed cleanly
through Q1. Starting Q2 on option tyres, the team adopted a similar
programme to many of its competitors and quickly aborted its first run on
both cars as the rain fell, boxing for intermediate tyres. Finding
sufficient pace on intermediates for both drivers proved problematic, a
situation that wasn’t improved when there was a brief window for slicks
which Nico managed to take advantage of, but found himself unable to repeat
the good pace he had found in Q1. As a consequence, the qualifying
performance was disappointing and the team took the decision to fuel the
cars for a long first stint and start Sunday’s race on prime tyres, required
given the penalty of carrying additional fuel.
Starting Sunday’s race on primes, despite the change in climatic conditions
and many other teams electing to start the race on options, might have made
Nico and Kazuki’s starts somewhat compromised. In the event, Nico had a very
strong opening lap, passing cars on the outside of turn one and by the close
of the lap had climbed six places from his start position. Kazuki’s start
was however compromised by an accident that pushed him back down the field
to P19, from which position he could only improve to P12. Towards the end of
the first stint, fuel pressure drop-outs on Nico’s car meant that first stop
was called a handful of laps early and he was obliged to carry additional
fuel for the remainder of the race to compensate for the problem, without
the penalty of which he may have had a good opportunity to challenge for P3.
Sam Michael, Technical Director Q&A
Q. Were you
pleased with the progress of the team at the Nürburgring?
We’re improving the performance levels of the FW31 every race, and that’s
translating into greater competitiveness across a variety of tracks. All the
teams are bringing upgrades to each race, so it’s encouraging to see that
our development plan is working.
Q. How did the cool conditions affect tyre performance?
Quite a lot. It was difficult to get the tyres up to their correct operating
conditions and then to keep them there. It was clear as early as Friday
morning that it was going to be an issue and remain so throughout the
weekend. When that happens there is also a high risk of graining, which is
why we opted to run the harder prime tyre for the majority of the race.
Q. Please explain the rationale behind the team’s tyre choices during Q2.
Like the rest of the field, we did one lap on slick tyres but abandoned it
when it started to rain and switched to intermediates. While on the Inters,
Kazuki radioed in to say that the track was ready to go back on slicks, but
it would be prudent to do another lap on the Inters. That almost paid off
for him. By the time he went back out on the slicks, it had rained again and
we’d missed the window. Nico was on a similar strategy. He was out on track
at the right time with the slicks, but his car balance wasn’t right. There
was some luck going on with the choices we made, but it was the same for
everyone and we just didn’t do as good a job as the other teams.
Q. What caused the fuel system problem on Nico’s car in the race, and what
were the ramifications?
Five laps before Nico’s first pit-stop we started to see issues with the
fuel rail high pressure which forced us into pitting earlier than we had
fuel for. We also added a large amount of extra fuel to give us the margin
we needed at the second stop. This meant Nico had to carry the extra margin
for the remainder of the race which slowed him down. We have now analysed
the data and parts, understood the problem and put in place revisions to the
system for Budapest GP.
Q. Do you think this was Nico’s best race in F1?
That’s fairly subjective but, if you judge him by his progression through
the field and his recent first lap performances, it’s clear Nico is driving
really well at the moment. His first lap at the Nürburgring reminded me of
his performance in Istanbul where he also made significant gains in the
opening lap.
Q. How would you sum up Kazuki’s performance at the Nürburgring?
Again, Kazuki was quick throughout qualifying and the race, demonstrated
when he set the fifth fastest race lap time. Unfortunately, though, he spent
the race in traffic so wasn’t able to show what he was capable of.
Q. Looking ahead, how do you expect the FW31 to perform in Hungary?
We should be competitive there too. We will be taking more upgrades to
Budapest, but all the teams need to be bringing 0.2 seconds to every race
just to stay where they are. It’s so close out there that you can’t afford
not to bring new parts to every race. |
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