Bahrain GP: Williams Friday practice notes

On a very hot day, the BMW WilliamsF1 Team spent today's first and second Free Practice sessions doing their homework mainly in preparation for Sunday's race.

Nick Heidfeld:

"My morning session was compromised by a minor drive shaft boot problem. However I wasn't happy with the balance of my car and we made some minor adjustments during the afternoon session, which improved it. The balance is still not ideal but we are going in the right direction. Also, as usual on a Friday it's important to collect some good tyre information and I think that we achieved that."

Mark Webber:

"Unlike last year on Friday, the track was quite quick today and we completed our working programme. Still, we have to find more pace since we are not as strong as we think we can be. We also need to pick the right tyre, which we'll do later on together with our Michelin engineers."

Sam Michael (Technical Director, WilliamsF1):

"We had a productive day today to determine cooling levels for the engine and brakes for Sunday's race. We also completed a good tyre comparison which give us enough information to make the compound choice with Michelin. As in Malaysia, the new parts that we have brought to the car appear to be working well."

Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director):

"The temperatures in Bahrain are very close to what we experienced in Sepang with air temperatures of 38 degrees and the track reached 54 degrees. This means that this weekend cooling is of paramount importance. During today's practice sessions, both our drivers have been focusing on doing long runs in order to evaluate the two tyre compounds."

Nick Heidfeld
Chassis: FW27 04
Practice session 1: 10th, 1:34.722
Practice session 2: 11th, 1:33.152

Mark Webber
Chassis: FW27 03
(Spare car FW27 02)
Practice session 1: 7th, 1:33.427
Practice session 2: 15th, 1:33.563

-williams-