Chinese GP: Williams Saturday qualifying notes

The AT&T Williams team endured a difficult qualifying session ahead of tomorrow's Chinese Grand Prix with both drivers struggling with car performance and as a consequence will line up on the eight and tenth row of the grid for tomorrow's race. The team will be seeking to make the most of its remaining options with race strategy in expected adverse weather conditions for tomorrow's race.

Nico Rosberg: 16th

"We had problems getting the tyres to work on our car. Sometimes it was losing grip and sliding at the front, sometimes it was the rear. With these characteristics, there was no possibility of setting a quick time due to the lack of predictability. Our performance was poor and the final outcome in qualifying today will make tomorrow difficult for us. Now I think we should hope for some rain tomorrow - not as much as in Fuji -- but enough to give us a chance."

Alex Wurz: 19th

"After morning practice, I felt the car was going to be pretty strong and we would be okay. In qualifying, the car felt alright in terms of balance but we just didn't have the speed. We will have to accept the situation and see what we can do tomorrow."

Patrick Head, Director of Engineering:

"Obviously today saw a very weak performance from us. We seem to have difficulty getting the time out of the option tyre, but other teams haven't so we have to look to ourselves for the cause of that and it's going to be a very difficult race tomorrow starting where we are on the grid. Meanwhile, it seems as if there is the possibility of some mixed weather conditions tomorrow and we will have to make the best of them and get what we can from the race."

Nico Rosberg: 16th
Chassis/engine: FW29-05 H195
Time: 1:37.483

Alex Wurz: 19th
Chassis/engine: FW29-03 H185
Time: 1:37.456

-credit: williams