Japanese GP: Williams Friday practice notes

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

Sam Michael, Technical Director, WilliamsF1:

"We had variable conditions today at Suzuka that meant we had to change our planned programme quite a bit. We did some work on the wet set-up, but conditions were really intermediate for most of the afternoon. In the last ten minutes of the second session, the track was ok for dry tyres. We sent Alex out to check both tyre compounds and the race cars did a run on dry tyres as well. The sessions today have given us some good data that we will work through tonight in order to make our decision in preparation for tomorrow's qualifying."

Mark Webber:

"The weather in practice today was changeable, but at least we were able to get a few laps in dry conditions so we have more information to go through tonight. It won't be easy to make the tyre decision, but it's the same for everyone. It looks like we have some work to do on our pace, but we worked our way through the entire programme so we're happy."

Nico Rosberg:

"Suzuka is a great circuit, no doubt about it! It's not easy to learn, I must say, but the balance of the car to start with was already quite good and I felt comfortable from the beginning. It all went quite well today; although it's been a bit more difficult for me to learn all that I wanted to because I didn't get that many laps on a dry track."

Alex Wurz:

"We tried our full range of settings and tyres today: full wet, wet and then dry tyres towards the end of the session. It has been a productive testing day, we may not have looked great on the time sheets, but that's because we tested many different things. In the last eight minutes of session two, when the track was quicker, I couldn't actually do any fast laps because we were checking something, which proved to be a good improvement in the end. We have gathered quite a lot of useful information for tomorrow, so Nico and Mark's job will be easier."

Simon Corbyn, Head of F1 Race Engineering, Cosworth:

"A routine Friday in Suzuka for Cosworth with all three engines running reliably. The rain was a more significant factor than the engine performance today!"

Mark Webber
Chassis: FW28 03
Engine: CA2006/29, 2nd GP
Practice session 1: 12th, 1 lap
Practice session 2: 1:35.866, 14th, 5 laps

Nico Rosberg
Chassis: FW28 05
Engine: CA2006/19, 1st GP
Practice session 1: 13th, 1 lap
Practice session 2: 1:36.176, 15th, 10 laps

Alex Wurz
Chassis: FW28 04
Engine: CA2006/13
Practice session 1: 1:47.919, 9th, 19 laps
Practice session 2: 1:36.234, 17th, 25 laps

-credit: williams