Sam Michael gives a de-brief of the Australian Grand Prix weekend which again saw the team come away with a points scoring finish following Rubens' eighth place.

Sam Michael, Technical Director Q&A

Q: It was a pretty chaotic Australian Grand Prix. What are your thoughts on Rubens’ eighth place?
SM: It was good to get some more points on the board, but we still have a lot of work to do to improve in all areas.

Q: Rubens was the only driver to fit the hard tyre at his second pit stop. Why did he do this, and did it cost him lap time?
SM: We discussed it as a team and took the decision together. In hindsight, however, it probably wasn’t the correct choice and we should have run the option tyre.

Q: Nico was taken out by Kobayashi on the opening lap. Prior to that, had you seen him take a step forward from Bahrain?
SM: Nico is a fast driver. He’s still finding his feet as this is only his first season in Formula One. He’s smart, and he knows what he has to do. I have 100% confidence in him delivering for the team.

Q: The team experimented with a new shark engine cover during Friday’s practice. Was it a step forward?
SM: We tested an extended engine cover fin but we didn’t like the results it gave during practice so we reverted back to the standard bodywork for qualifying and the race. We haven’t abandoned it; we will probably run it again at a race in the near future.

Q: Did either FW32 experience any reliability issues during the weekend?
SM: We had one problem during the Saturday morning practice session on Nico’s car. Apart from that, there were no reliability issues.

Q: There was significantly more overtaking in Australia than there was in Bahrain, even when the track was dry. Why do you think that was the case?
SM: I think the fact that the start of the race was wet certainly helped. There were also some cars that were out of their normal performance positions as well (like Hamilton, Webber and Alonso), which helped shake things up a bit.

Q: Looking ahead to Malaysia next weekend, what are your hopes for AT&T Williams?
SM: We need to get both cars into the top ten in qualifying, that’s our key target.

Championship Tables After 2 of 19 Races

Drivers
1 F Alonso 	37
2 F Massa 	33
3 J Button 		31
4 L Hamilton 	23
5 N Rosberg 	20
6 R Kubica 	18
7 S Vettel 		12
8 M Schumacher 	9
11 R Barrichello	5
17 N Hulkenberg 	0

Constructors
1 Ferrari 		70
2 McLaren 	54
3 Mercedes GP 	29
4 Renault 		18
5 Red Bull Racing 	18
6 Force India 	18
7 AT&T Williams 	5
8 Toro Rosso 	0
9 BMW Sauber 	0
10 Lotus Racing 	0