Canadian GP : AT&T Williams GP Debrief

By AT&T Williams F1 Team
June 14 2011

AT&T Williams F1 Technical Director discusses the recent 2011 Canadian Grand Prix.

 
 AT&T Williams Canadian GP Debrief
 

Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix was unlike any other race in the history of Formula One. Six safety car periods, a two hour stoppage due to rain and a double DRS zone kept the teams on their toes, and AT&T Williams navigated through the chaos to score more World Championship points.

Sam Michael, Technical Director:

Q: Rubens scored more points for AT&T Williams in the Canadian Grand Prix. How would you sum up the performance of the FW33 at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve?
SM: We made some good progress in the right direction this weekend, in particular with the development of our exhaust blown diffuser.

Q: How did the car's aerodynamic updates perform?
SM: We raced a new diffuser, brake ducts and barge boards in Canada. We also had a development to the front wing, although we didn't race that due to the characteristics not suiting the Montréal circuit.

Q: The rain on race‐day was forecast. Did you set up either of the team's cars for the wet, even though qualifying was dry?
SM: Yes we set up both cars with wet weather in mind.

Q: How did Pirelli's wet and intermediate tyres perform during the race?
SM: The tyres held up really well in terms of wear rate and degradation.

Q: At one stage, the race had to be abandoned for two hours due to the rain. What changes did you make to the car during that period and what did the drivers do?
SM: We were only able to perform some accident repair work as the regulations don't allow for any other set-up changes.

Q: How effective was the double DRS zone, once the track started to dry out towards the end of the race?
SM: It is difficult to make a proper judgement about this as the tyre performance dominated overtaking ability. It certainly wasn't a bad thing so I'm sure this will be tried again in future.

Q: Valencia comes next. What are you expectations for the European Grand Prix?
SM: We have some further diffuser modifications for the European Grand Prix and our target is to get into the top ten in both qualifying and the race.

 

Championship Tables After 7 of 19 Races

Drivers
1 S Vettel 		161 
2 J Button	 	101
3 M Webber 	94
4 L Hamilton 	85
5 F Alonso 	69
6 F Massa 	32
7 V Petrov  	31
8 N Heidfeld 	29
9 M Schumacher 	26
10 N Rosberg 	26
Constructors
1 Red Bull Racing 	255
2 McLaren 	186
3 Ferrari 		101
4 Lotus Renault 	60
5 Mercedes GP	52
6 Sauber 		27
7 Toro Rosso	12
8 Force India 	10
9 AT&T Williams 	4
10 Team Lotus 	0

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