Formula 1

Spanish GP: Williams race report

A closely fought Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona today opened the European rounds of the 2009 World Championship. Starting in P11, Kazuki Nakajima became embroiled in the second corner incident which prompted a premature pitstop for a new nose and a ...

Published: Jun 19, 2009, 7:54 PM

Copy link

Share on Facebook

Share on Twitter

Share on WhatsApp

Share on Linkedin

Share on Pinterest

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

A closely fought Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona today opened the European rounds of the 2009 World Championship. Starting in P11, Kazuki Nakajima became embroiled in the second corner incident which prompted a premature pitstop for a new nose and a change in strategy. Rejoining at the back of the pack, Kazuki was unable to improve any further than P13. Nico Rosberg benefited from a cleaner start, moving into P7 from a P9 grid position by the end of lap one. Inconsistency compromised a strong strategy and left Nico in P8 and with one point at race end.

Nico Rosberg:
I really believe we could have taken fifth place today but things didn't go too well. I had a very good first few laps but, after 10 laps or so, I started to experience a problem at the rear of the car which I've had all weekend. Something inexplicable would just happen and affect the balance which caused a lot of oversteer. Oddly enough, it would then be ok again. As this was happening throughout much of the race, I couldn't really push and that really hurt me. Going home with one point is always positive though and we should have a good car in Monaco so I think we'll have the chance to get a good result there.

Kazuki Nakajima:
Another difficult race for me. I didn't have anywhere to go off the line and ended up damaging my front wing as I was caught in the middle of the first lap incident. Fortunately, I didn't lose a massive amount of time because the safety car was deployed, but my race was really over from there. Our race pace was quite good, and that allowed me to get ahead of Fisichella, but this is just a disappointing end to the weekend.

Patrick Head, Director of Engineering:
Although we were in the points today, it was frustrating not to get more out of the race, particularly as the safety car on the first lap gave our strategy a good advantage over the cars in front. Kazuki was out of points contention early on due to a pitstop to change the front wing. Nico's pace in the first stint was initially good but we then struggled to maintain consistency so we'll have to investigate that. Both cars were reliable.

-credit: williams

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Read also :

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Facebook

Share on Twitter

Share on WhatsApp

Share on Linkedin

Share on Pinterest

Share on Viber

Previous article Button locks up Spain, maybe the world

Next article Spanish GP: Brawn GP race report

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

More from

Kazuki Nakajima



Why Kazuki Nakajima sees the 2016 Le Mans defeat as Toyota’s WEC highlight

WEC

WEC

Imola

Why Kazuki Nakajima sees the 2016 Le Mans defeat as Toyota’s WEC highlight



Kobayashi 'joke' triggered Nakajima's Toyota WEC reserve return

WEC

WEC

Sebring

Kobayashi 'joke' triggered Nakajima's Toyota WEC reserve return



Nakajima appointed Toyota WEC reserve for 2023 season

WEC

WEC

Nakajima appointed Toyota WEC reserve for 2023 season

More from

Williams



Williams has better cooling vests than anyone – Alex Albon

Formula 1

Formula 1

Williams has better cooling vests than anyone – Alex Albon



James Vowles explains request for review of F1 cost cap

Formula 1

Formula 1

Singapore GP

James Vowles explains request for review of F1 cost cap



How Fernando Alonso scored ninth at Zandvoort - and how Alex Albon lost a similar payday

Formula 1

Dutch GP

How Fernando Alonso scored ninth at Zandvoort - and how Alex Albon lost a similar payday

Latest news



Audi hands F3 runner-up Freddie Slater F1 practice debut

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

United States GP

18 min

Audi hands F3 runner-up Freddie Slater F1 practice debut



On this day: Fernando Alonso wins the world title, Michael Schumacher retires from F1

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Brazilian GP

1 h

On this day: Fernando Alonso wins the world title, Michael Schumacher retires from F1



Raul Fernandez still compromised after Indonesia finger injury: “I’m not at 100%”

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Australian GP

2 h

Raul Fernandez still compromised after Indonesia finger injury: “I’m not at 100%”



MotoGP can’t simply copy F1’s Drive to Survive success – Chase Carey

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Australian GP

3 h

MotoGP can’t simply copy F1’s Drive to Survive success – Chase Carey

Feature

Discover prime content



How Kimi Antonelli levelled up his character to be F1 2026's world champion-elect

Formula 1

United States GP

By Filip Cleeren

How Kimi Antonelli levelled up his character to be F1 2026's world champion-elect



Why Oscar Piastri has struggled to show his best with this year's McLaren MCL40

Formula 1

By Jake Boxall-Legge

Why Oscar Piastri has struggled to show his best with this year's McLaren MCL40



How levelling the playing field isn’t antithetical to the principles of F1

Formula 1

By Pat Symonds

How levelling the playing field isn’t antithetical to the principles of F1



Lights, Camara, action: How Haas picked F1's latest rookie for 2027

Formula 1

Singapore GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

Lights, Camara, action: How Haas picked F1's latest rookie for 2027

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts

Subscribe