Japanese GP: Surprise result for Williams F1 in qualifying


By Williams F1 Team
October 12 2013

Qualifying for the 2013 Japanese GP would produce an unexpected result for the Williams F1 team with Valtteri Bottas and Pastor Maldonado qualifying in 13th and 15th. After several difficult pracxtice sessions the team was expecting a difficult qualifying but clean laps from both drivers saw them finish closer to their rivals.

 
 Williams Japanese GP Qualifying Review
Bottas
 
Qualifying Notes
• Valtteri Bottas qualified 13th with Pastor Maldonado 15th for tomorrow’s Japanese Grand Prix.
• Both drivers drove clean laps on their single-lap medium tyre runs in Q2 and were unlucky to miss out on Q3 in what was a very tight qualifying session.
 
Pastor Maldonado: 
Pastor Maldonado"We managed to get 100% out of the car today and are just about where we expected. We didn’t get a lot of running yesterday after the problem with the wheel and the accident in the afternoon. Overall it wasn’t a bad today so we’ll now see what we can do tomorrow in the race."
Valtteri Bottas:
 Valtteri Bottas"e were fighting for positions higher than we expected today after a very close qualifying session. It was a welcome surprise and we can be happy with P13 today. For the race tomorrow we are hoping to be able to challenge the cars around us and fight for the top ten."
Xevi Pujolar, Chief Race Engineer:
 Xevi Pujolar"Following final practice this morning, we were struggling with overall grip and so we were expecting a difficult qualifying. However, we knew if we could put together a clean lap on the medium tyre we had a chance to be closer to the competition than at previous races. The wind was also quite strong and that added another challenge, but both drivers delivered a single clean lap when required to qualify 13th and 15th. Even though the grid position is only a small step forward, we are much closer in terms of performance as a single tenth of a second would have jumped us much further up the order in Q2. This track is going to be hard on tyres for everyone tomorrow, so with the right strategy we have an opportunity to fight for some points in the race."
Maldonado
 

Suzuka Circuit
Japan 5.807 kms / 3.608 miles 

Weather: Warm and dry
Air: 23- 24°C Track: 33 - 42°C

POS

DRIVER

TEAM

Q1

Q2

 Q3

1

 M Webber Red Bull 1:32.271 1:31.513 1:30.915

2

 S Vettel Red Bull 1:32.397 1:31.290 1:31.089
3 L Hamilton Mercedes 1:32.340 1:31.636 1:31.253
           
13

V Bottas
FW35 01
RS27-5423/2

 Williams F1 Team 1:32.613 (12th) 1:32.013 -
15 P Maldonado
FW35 02
RS27-5500/2		 Williams F1 Team 1:32.875 (16th) 1:32.093 -
 

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Japanese GP: Surprise result for Williams F1 in qualifying
Discussion started by Williams F1 , 12/10/2013 12:44
Williams F1
12/10/2013 12:44
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Anderis
12/10/2013 12:53
Oh, 13th is considered as a positive surprise, what a sad time it is... sad smiley

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rpaloschi
12/10/2013 15:56
Not the fact that we qualified 13th, but the fact of the gap being the smaller of the year. We were faster than TR and in the mix with FI, Sauber and McLaren. Difficult times, yes! but credit where credit is due.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013:10:12:16:12:33 by ronald.paloschi.

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