French GP: Williams Friday practice notes

Comments from the Williams team after Friday practices for the French Grand Prix

Sam Michael, Technical Director, WilliamsF1:

"We've had a productive day today. We experienced a problem with a drive shaft on Alex's car during this morning's practice and the mechanics did well to fix it quickly and get him back out on track at the end of the session. It was then a standard afternoon for him, evaluating tyre compounds. Bridgestone have brought two good tyres here so we'll go through the data carefully to make our selection."

"Everything else went according to plan, specifically checks on the cooling system and the brakes, which is crucial considering how hot it is here and that we're expecting similar conditions all weekend. All the new parts are working well, so tonight we'll work on our set-up options to get some more pace out of the car for qualifying tomorrow."

Alex Wurz:

"We had an interesting day regarding our tyre choice today. We can go both ways, so I am very curious about what we will decide tonight. We will now run through the data and hook up with Mark and Nico and see what they think about the performance of each tyre."

"It's a shame that when I went out on my last set of tyres I was caught up in heavy traffic because I could have just sneaked around Kubica. It's hot out there and the race is going to be physical. I would love to be in the car on Sunday but I am going to watch it from a cool, air-conditioned room instead!"

Mark Webber:

"It was a pretty good day. Alex did some good long runs in the second session which was critical because the track temperatures this afternoon will be similar to those we'll experience in the race. The hot conditions are making it very hard on the tyres at the moment though so we have a lot of data to go through tonight, as well as a lot of set up work to do. I did two runs this afternoon and it seems that we're in a lot better shape than we were in the last two races so there's perhaps a window opening for some cautious optimism, which is good."

Nico Rosberg:

"It was the first time for me on this track in a Formula One car. It was very difficult this morning but, slowly but surely, we're heading in a better set-up direction and I must say that, in the end, the car didn't feel too bad. I hope that we can keep on making similar progress tomorrow."

Simon Corbyn, Head of F1 Race Engineering, Cosworth:

"Cosworth introduced the upgraded CA2006 Series 6 engine with Mark Webber in Magny-Cours and we encountered no performance, reliability or calibration concerns with either the new specification engine or the latest Petrobras fuel."

"Nico continued with his Series 4 engine from Indianapolis with no issues today, although, as reported, we are closely monitoring the condition of this engine. Alex also had no engine problems throughout his Friday programme."

Alex Wurz
Chassis: FW28 04
Engine: CA2006/019
Practice session 1: 1:19.055, 7th, 17 laps
Practice session 2: 1:17.859, 4th, 29 laps

Mark Webber
Chassis: FW28 03
Engine: CA2006/025, 1st GP
Practice session 1: no time
Practice session 2: 1:19.413, 18th, 10 laps

Nico Rosberg
Chassis: FW28 05
Engine: CA2006/022, 2nd GP
Practice session 1: 1:19.401, 10th, 6 laps
Practice session 2: 1:19.692, 20th, 19 laps

-williams-