Turkish GP: For Williams a fifth but could have been better


Rosberg in fifth

By Andrew Hooper
June 7 2009

For the AT&T Williams team a fifth for Nico Rosberg was a good result but it could have been better with both Nico and Kazuki Nakajima losing out in their last pit stops. Kazuki would drop out of the points when he was to suffer from a slow pit stop with a delay changing his left front tyre. Nico would lose a fourth to Trulli in his pit stop. Despite this four points was an encouraging result.

 
 Turkish GP Race Review

 

With the AT&T Williams team drivers starting the fifty eight lap 2009 Turkish Grand Prix from ninth and twelfth. Nico was fuelled to stop around lap eighteen and Kazuki considerably further as Kazuki would be carrying twenty kilos more fuel. At the front it was Vettel on pole from Button, Barrichello, Webber, Trulli, Raikkonen, Massa, and Alonso. The day was sunny and hot as the grid moved away on their parade lap. Vettel and Button were on the harder tyre. The harder tyre appeared to be the tyre of choice for the front runners.

RosbergThe field would take their spots and the lights would go out and off they would go with Vettel making a good start leading Button into Turn one. Barrichello would make a poor start dropping  down the order to thirteenth. Button would pass Vettel while Webber was now up to third. Button  was able to pass Vettel when the Red Bull driver ran wide at Turn nine allowing Button to get  past. Nico was in fifth right behind Trulli. Lap two and Button would set a fastest lap,  1m:29.364. Kazuki was now in tenth. After lap two Button was 1.4 seconds ahead of Vettel. Button was flying and he was carrying more fuel than Vettel.

Lap three and another fastest lap for Button, 1m:29.155. It was a great start from Nico passing  Massa off the line. Lap four and Button goes even faster with a 1m:28.694. Button was now 2.2 seconds ahead of Vettel. Lap five would see Fisichella pit Nico had dropped away from Trulli now being 2.3 seconds behind the Toyota. A 1m:28.532 from Button on lap five moving further ahead of Vettel by a few tenths. Fisichella would retire with a hydraulic problem, but he was still in his car in his garage. Lap seven and a 1m:28.490 from Button as he extended his lead out to 23.1 seconds. Nico was still 2.3 seconds behind Trulli. Kazuki was a similar distance behind Raikkonen. Barrichello and Kovalainen would make contact at Turn nine while Barrichello tried to pass the McLaren. Rubens would spin but was able to continue.

NakajimaLap eight and Button was now 3.7 seconds ahead of Vettel, having set a new fastest lap with a 1m:28.128. Nico was 14.4 seconds behind the leader. So Button was leading from Vettel, Webber, Trulli, Nico, Massa, Alonso, and Kubica in eighth. Lap ten and Nico would lose a few tenths to Trulli. Lap twelve and Button was again fastest with a 1m:27.799 to see his lead out to 5.2 seconds. Button was going quicker and quicker. Barrichello in an poor attempt to pass Sutil would make contact with the Force India car. Rubens would damage his front wing and would pit at the end of the lap. Barrichello would pit from fifteenth. Nico was 2.8 seconds behind Trulli while Kazuki continued down in tenth.

Lap fifteen and Alonso would pit in what was the first of the scheduled pit stops. Vettel would pit on lap sixteen as Button went faster with a 1m:27.778. Vettel would take on the harder tyres for what was a short stop. Vettel was back out in sixth appearing to have moved to a three stop strategy. Alonso was down in fourteenth. Trulli would pit on lap seventeen as Button continued to lead with Webber now second and Nico third. Button would pit on lap eighteen and would be joined by Massa. Webber was now leading with Nico second. Button on the harder tyre would come back out in third. Kazuki was now in eighth, ahead of Trulli.

RosbergWebber would pit on lap nineteen joined by Nico. Raikkonen had also come in as Button took back the lead from Vettel, Kubica, Webber, Kazuki, Nico, and Trulli. Nico had passed the Toyota as a result of the pit stops. Kovalainen would pit on lap twenty going from the soft tyre to the hard one. Kubica would pit on lap twenty one. The order was Button from a closing Vettel, Webber, Kazuki, Nico, Trulli, and Glock in eighth. A personal best fro Kazuki with a 1m:29.044. Hamilton would pass Raikkonen for thirteenth. Nico was 4.7 seconds behind Kazuki as Vettel sliced big chunks of time off Button's lead. Vettel was now 1.6 seconds behind Button. Vettel needed to pass the Brawn car quickly if he was to have any chance.

Kazuki and Nico continued in fourth and fifth as Kazuki continued to push setting a personal best of 1m:28.677 on lap twenty four. Vettel was right behind Button and trying to pass. Buemi would pit from fifteenth on lap twenty six. Kazuki would pit from fourth on lap twenty seven. Nico was now fourth while Glock would pass Trulli for fifth. Kazuki had dropped to ninth 3.2 seconds behind Heidfeld. Nico was 13.0 seconds behind third placed Webber. Heidfeld would pit from eighth seeing Kazuki to move back into a point scoring position. Lap thirty and Vettel would pit allowing Webber into second. Vettel was again on the harder tyre as he came back out in third. Glock was now right behind Nico but would pit on lap thirty one.

NakajimaButton's lead over Webber was 15.8 seconds with Vettel 7.4 seconds behind Webber. Vettel was told to push while Button was able to lower his times into the 1m:27's. Kazuki was now seventh as Piquet pitted from eleventh on lap thirty three. Hamilton and Bourdais were the only drivers yet to pit but Hamilton would pit on lap thirty three. Bourdais would also come in. Hamilton was now on the softer tyre and was passed by Piquet in the final series of corners. Nico was still fourth and running pretty well by himself being 5.6 seconds behind Vettel and 3.8 seconds ahead of Trulli. Nico was now lapping quicker than Vettel but Trulli was pushing looking to close in onto Nico.

Lap thirty six and a personal best from Nico with a 1m:28.222. Nico was now 5.5 seconds behind Vettel while Button continued to lead from Webber. Kazuki continued in seventh 7.3 seconds behind Massa. Kubica was in eighth while Barrichello would pit from fourteenth on lap forty. Lap forty one and Nico would pit for the final time seeing him drop to seventh. Nico was running behind sixth placed Kazuki. Massa would pit from fifth while Button would pit on lap forty four taking on the softer tyres. Webber was also in joined by Trulli. Kazuki would also come in with all these drivers taking on the softer tyre. Button was leading from Vettel by 8.0 seconds. Kazuki would have a problem with the change of his left front tyre seeing his lose time and drop to thirteenth.

In the pit stops things would go wrong for Nico when he was to lose time to Trulli and this would see the Toyota back in front of the Williams. Nico was now fifth and Kazuki was well out of the points. A good race result with a double points scoring finish had all gone wrong for the Williams team. Heidfeld would pit from eighth on lap forty seven. Vettel had close the gap to Button to 6.7 seconds while Glock was right behind Nico in sixth, but the Toyota had yet to make another stop. Glock would do just that on lap forty eight. Piquet would pit from eleventh.

RosbergAt the front Vettel would pit on lap forty nine with Webber able to get back into second. Barrichello would retire in his pit on lap forty nine. Button was now leading Webber by 20.5 seconds with Vettel third followed by Trulli, Nico, Massa, Kubica, and Glock in eighth. Nico was 2.9 seconds behind Trulli with just seven laps remaining. The top six were looking quite secure in their positions with Nico looking likely to score four points. Vettel was told that Webber was faster and to save his car so any possibility of a fight between the two Red Bull's was over. Kazuki was still pushing setting a personal best on lap fifty four. Nico continued to drop back from Trulli with just three laps left in the race.

Button was now coasting as he drove to the finish completing the final laps to take victory and extend his lead in the championship to 26 points over Barrichello. Webber was second followed by Vettel, Trulli, Nico, Massa, Kubica, and Glock. For the Williams team it was a race of frustration with a double points scoring finish and a fourth place finish for Nico disappearing in the last pit stops. Kazuki would come home in twelfth setting his best lap on the last lap of the race. For Nico his fifth was still a good result and both drivers performed very well in the race.

 
Pos  Driver  	   Team		  	      Time
 1.  Button        Brawn GP-Mercedes     (B)  1h26:24.848
 2.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault      (B)  +     6.714
 3.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault      (B)  +     7.461
 4.  Trulli        Toyota                (B)  +    27.843
 5.  Rosberg       AT&T Williams-Toyota  (B)  +    31.539
 6.  Massa         Ferrari               (B)  +    39.996
 7.  Kubica        BMW Sauber            (B)  +    46.247
 8.  Glock         Toyota                (B)  +    46.959
 9.  Raikkonen     Ferrari               (B)  +    50.246
10.  Alonso        Renault               (B)  +  1:02.420
11.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber            (B)  +  1:04.327
12.  Nakajima      AT&T Williams-Toyota  (B)  +  1:06.376
13.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  +  1:20.454
14.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  +     1 lap
15.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  +     1 lap
16.  Piquet        Renault               (B)  +     1 lap
17.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes  (B)  +     1 lap
18.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  +     1 lap

Fastest lap: Button, 1:27.579

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                      On lap
Barrichello   Brawn GP-Mercedes     (B)    49
Fisichella    Force India-Mercedes  (B)    5

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Turkish GP: For Williams a fifth but could have been better
Discussion started by Williams F1 , 07/06/2009 14:48
Williams F1
07/06/2009 14:48
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