French GP: Williams Saturday qualifying notes

Comments from the Williams team after qualifying for the French Grand Prix

Sam Michael, Technical Director, WilliamsF1:

"It's a much tighter grid than at the last race. We decided to do an engine change on Nico's car before qualifying, due to us over-revving the engine during previous running. As he will take a 10-place penalty, he was on a different strategy. We had reasonable pace through practice and our target tomorrow is points."

"Unfortunately, Mark missed out on a place in the top ten by a couple of tenths. We've improved the car since the last Grand Prix, but there's still a way to go. It will be a hot race tomorrow so the cars and tyres will be placed under considerable strain, while it will also be interesting to see what strategies other teams run here. We're looking forward to it and we will be fighting for points."

Nico Rosberg:

"I am pleased because it was quite a good qualifying for me today, even if my last flying lap wasn't perfect. Even if I had managed a perfect lap, it wouldn't have made a difference anyway because the gap to eighth place is pretty big. Dropping 10 places because we had to change the engine isn't ideal, but I've shown in previous races that I can work my way through the field. Our Bridgestone tyres have proved to work well here and that gives us confidence for tomorrow's race."

Mark Webber:

"We knew it was going to be a pretty close qualifying session and the fact that Nico and I are just on the border of the top ten demonstrates that. I had several good laps but my last qualifying lap was not so awesome. I wasn't quick enough in the last sector so I lost a couple of tenths. No excuses. Let's see how the race goes tomorrow."

Simon Corbyn, Head of F1 Race Engineering, Cosworth Ltd:

"Cosworth and WiliamsF1 took the difficult decision to change Nico's engine prior to qualifying. Given the engine's history, the potential risk of compromising tomorrow's race outweighs the grid penalty he will incur. We took the opportunity to install a fresh Series 6 engine for Nico and he used it to good effect in qualifying. Mark also had no engine problems with his Series 6 and was unfortunate to just miss the cut for the final session."

Nico Rosberg: 9th
Chassis: FW28 05
Engine: CA2006/023, 1st GP
Time: 1:18.272

Mark Webber: 11th
Chassis: FW28 03
Engine: CA2006/025, 1st GP
Time: 1:16.129

-williams-