Bahrain GP: Williams Race Review

By Williams F1 Team
April 22 2012

The Williams F1 team looks back at their 2012 Bahrain Grand Prix.

 
 Williams Bahrain GP Race Review
Maldonado
 
Race Notes
•  It was a disappointing day for Williams with both cars retiring before the end of the 57 lap race.
• Pastor made a great start racing through from 21st and running as high as 11th before retiring on lap 25.
• Pastor had a problem with the left-rear of his car forcing him to spin, before returning to the pits and retiring.
• Bruno also made a great start, but a worsening handling problem forced the team to retire him on lap 55.
• The Bahrain Grand Prix also marked our 150th race with Renault
Pastor Maldonado:  Pastor Maldonado
 "I had a puncture in the exit of Turn 1 and then spun on the straight. I’m disappointed for the team as the performance was there. Starting from the back of the pack I was fighting every lap. The car was responding well and I was able to make up many positions. I feel today we could have scored more points but unfortunately it wasn’t to be."
Bruno Senna 
Bruno Senna"We did everything right on the first lap but unfortunately I was struggling to keep the pace to the cars in front. I think we were quite aggressive with the set-up today but sometimes you don’t get it right. Towards the end I started feeling a lot of vibration in the brake pedal. The engineers were looking at it, so I kept pushing as you never know what will happen, but the vibration got worse and the decision was made to pit to avoid risking an accident. It’s disappointing after two points finishes, but it’s a long season."
Mark Gillan Chief Operations Engineer:
 Mark Gillan"Both cars had good starts gaining quite a few positions by the end of the first lap. Pastor’s first stint of the race was decent but unfortunately he spun on lap 25 due to a problem on the left-rear of the car, which forced us to retire him from the race. We are still investigating this problem. Bruno was running in the mid-field for the majority of the race, but a few laps from the finish he complained of a worsening problem with the handling of the car and we took the difficult decision to retire his car too. As a team we now need to regroup and keep pushing in preparation for both the Mugello test and forthcoming Barcelona race."
Laurent Debout, Renault Sport F1 team support leader:
 "It was a shame that we could not get some points in the 150th race for Williams-Renault. We introduced some new settings this race to improve driveability and the drivers were happy with the balance. Pastor’s pace in the first part of the race was good, but from the starting positions it was always going to be hard to make up positions. All the same we’ve now got some time before the next race to look at everything in detail and improve next time out."
 
Maldonado
 

Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir
57 laps, 308km / 191.6 miles

Weather: Hot & dry
Air 27-28C, Track 29-33C

POS

DRIVER

TEAM

Time (Fastest Lap)

Grid

1

S Vettel

 Red Bull

1:35.10.990( 1:36.379, 1st)

1

2

K Raikkonen

 Lotus

+ 3.333(1:37.116, 5th)

11

3

R Grosjean

Lotus

+ 10.194 (1:36.928, 3rd)

7

 
22nd B SENNA
FW34-03 RS275337		 Williams F1 Team DNF ( 1:38.087, 11th) 15

DNF

P MALDONADO
FW34-02 R275344

Williams F1 Team

n/a (1:39.876, 21st)

21

 

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Bahrain GP: Williams Race Review
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