European GP: Williams Friday practice notes

The team had a productive free practice today, steadily working through a comprehensive set-up programme for Sunday's European Grand Prix. Despite typically temperamental Eifel weather, with driving rain prior to the start of the afternoon session ...

The team had a productive free practice today, steadily working through a comprehensive set-up programme for Sunday's European Grand Prix. Despite typically temperamental Eifel weather, with driving rain prior to the start of the afternoon session and threatening winds during it, the AT&T Williams team covered over 500 kilometres of the mighty Nurburgring, gaining valuable set-up data for what could be a lottery qualifying session and race.

Nico Rosberg:

"It wasn't easy to find the right set-up today. It was especially difficult in the afternoon because it was very windy and the rain before the session took a lot of the rubber off the track. I'm not completely happy with the car, but we tested a lot of options and we've definitely learnt a few things. We therefore have some good ideas on how we can improve it in time for tomorrow's qualifying. Tyre-wise, this weekend could be very interesting because the weather is making the selection very hard."

Alex Wurz:

"The Nurburgring weather made it all a bit different today. Everyone was running varying programmes, including me, just because we had to react to the weather forecast. We had an interesting day, going through a lot of data. Everything was ok, but I'm a little bit upset because I lost half a second on my fastest lap due to a problem in the last corner. Anyway, all in all, I feel pretty comfortable on this track."

Sam Michael, Technical Director:

"It was a good practice today, especially considering the wet weather in the early part of the second session. We worked through our programme; looking at different tyre options, cooling and race set-up. We also evaluated through three new tyres in the morning as we were aware of the risk of rain in the afternoon and had to make sure we had a tyre compare. Overall, we've achieved what we wanted to and now have all the information needed to make sure we are prepared for qualifying and the race."

Nico Rosberg
Chassis/engine: FW29-05 / H101
Practice session 1: 1:34.563 (13th) 32 laps
Practice session 2: 1:33.845 (7th) 24 laps

Alex Wurz
Chassis/engine: FW29-03 / H117
Practice session 1: 1:34.345 (12th) 32 laps
Practice session 2: 1:34.264 (12th) 21 laps