Quantcast

ROKiT Williams Barcelona Test 19:02:2020 Day One


By Williams Racing
February 20 2020

The ROKiT Williams Team would complete the first day of their 2020 pre-season testing with George Russell and Nicholas Latifi sharing the driving duties. In what was a packed testing programme for the Williams Team they would come away pleased with the promising start that had been made in comparison to the dramas of 2019. It was very much a case of all the hard work that had gone into the preparations for testing producing some promising results. Both George and Nicholas would come away from the day satisfied that the FW43 was a step forward over last years car.

 
 ROKiT Williams Barcelona Test 19:02:2020 Day One
 
Latifi
 

Barcelona Test One – Day One
Drivers: George Russell, Nicholas Latifi
Chassis / Engine: FW43-01 / Mercedes-AMG F1 M11 EQ Performance
Location: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, 4.655 km
Weather: Moderate and dry 

Claire Williams, Deputy Team Principal:  Today was just the beginning of our 2020 campaign, but we feel we’ve made a good start. Being the first car out on track this morning may not win us any prizes, but it was a clear statement of intent and lays to rest some of the ghosts of last year. The rest of the day was executed pretty much perfectly, despite the packed programme. We clocked up some considerable mileage without any issues and the team will now work through the gathered data in preparation for tomorrow. It is so nice to see the team back in action, everyone at Williams does such a great job and they have worked hard today. My enormous thanks to everyone in the team, both here and at the factory for the huge amount of effort that has gone into getting the car ready for day one of testing. I look forward to seeing where we finish at the end of day six.

Dave Robson, Senior Race Engineer: A very promising start to the 2020 season for the team. George was the first car on track this morning and spent the opening few hours collecting aero data in several different configurations. By mid-morning we were completing longer runs on different tyre compounds as we begin to understand the main characteristics of the FW43. Following a successful morning session, George ended his running, allowing Nicholas to take over for the afternoon. Nicholas completed a further sequence of longer new tyre runs, building on the work started by George this morning. In the evening we took the opportunity to collect another round of aero data. Overall, it has been a very encouraging day of reliable running of the FW43, which has been made possible by the hard work and collective effort of everyone at the track and back in Grove.

George Russell: I was happy with this morning’s running, completing 73 laps, and the feeling was positive. We had an intense programme planned, and it was important to get out from the beginning so that we could get back into the pits first and get on with the day. The general handling of the car is much better, and from lap one I had confidence to push the car to the limit. The FW43 is an improvement on last year, the lap times are the important thing and we will only know at the end of next week where we are. Overall, it has been a very positive morning, we just need to focus on our programme and get the most out of testing. We are excited for the new season, I am confident that we will be racing this year.

Russel said: "Overall it's been a very promising morning. Definitely the general handling of the car is much better. From Lap One today I had confidence to push the car to the limit, whereas last year it wasn't a nice feeling in the early laps and it was quite scary to drive in the opening laps.

"But a nice car to drive isn't always fast... we just need to see if we've been able to smash enough downforce on the car to see if we can challenge those around.

"Everybody was a bit lost at this time last year. We're definitely excited for the new season. It was a character building year last year, but I'm confident we can go racing this year and have a bit more fun. That's what we're all looking for."

"Massively important (in regard to trouble free morning) firstly to getting the car here on time, last year was far from ideal and the team have done a really great job to achieve that and the build quality is so much better than last year and things fit properly. The car looks better from a design perspective."

In respect of team-mate Nicholas Russell added: "He's probably the most-prepared rookie F1 has had for a long, long time. I expect him to give me a really hard time and keep me on my toes.

"From the outside people are expecting me to beat Nicholas hands down, but I don't think it's going to be as easy as people think."

Nicholas Latifi: Overall, it was a very positive first day testing with the team. I can definitely feel that the car has taken a step forward from last year, so thanks to the team for their hard work over the winter. We just have to keep plugging away each day and learn how the car reacts and see if we can find some more performance. All in all, I’m very pleased with the first day of running.

 
Russell
 
Pos. Driver 		Team 				Best Time Total Laps
1. L. Hamilton 		Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team 	1:16.976 	94 
2. V. Bottas 		Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team 	1:17.313 	79 
3. S. Perez 		BWT Racing Point F1 Team 	1:17.375 	58 
4. M. Verstappen 	Aston Martin Red Bull Racing 	1:17.516 	168 
5. D. Kvyat 		Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda 	1:17.698 	116 
6. C. Sainz 		McLaren F1 Team 		1:17.842 	161 
7. D. Ricciardo 	Renault F1 Team 		1:17.873 	56 
8. E. Ocon 		Renault F1 Team 		1:18.004 	62 
9. G. Russell 		ROKiT Williams Racing 		1:18.168 	73
10. L. Stroll 		BWT Racing Point F1 Team 	1:18.282 	52
11. C. Leclerc 		Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow 1:18.289 	132
12. N. Latifi 		ROKiT Williams Racing 		1:18.382 	63
13. R. Kubica 		Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN 	1:18.386 	59
14. K. Magnussen 	Haas F1 Team 			1:18.466 	106
15. A. Giovinazzi 	Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN 	1:20.096 	79
 
Latifi
 

View a Printer Friendly version of this Story.

Bookmark or share this story with:

ROKiT Williams Barcelona Test 19:02:2020 Day One
Discussion started by Williams F1 , 20/02/2020 07:24
Williams F1
20/02/2020 07:24
What do you think? You can have your say by posting below.
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.

Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.
We record all IP addresses on the Sportnetwork message boards which may be required by the authorities in case of defamatory or abusive comment. We seek to monitor the Message Boards at regular intervals. We do not associate Sportnetwork with any of the comments and do not take responsibility for any statements or opinions expressed on the Message Boards. If you have any cause for concern over any material posted here please let us know as soon as possible by e-mailing abuse@sportnetwork.net