Williams GP Race Report

CHINESE GP RACE

Rubens Barrichello, Williams F1 Team

Photo by: xpb.cc

The Williams Cosworth FW33 proved itself reliable today allowing AT&T Williams drivers, Rubens Barrichello and Pastor Maldonado a clean Chinese Grand Prix. Rubens drove a consistent two-stop race from 15th on the grid to finish 13th. Pastor opted for a three-stop strategy and delivered a solid performance throughout the 56 laps. In a race which saw only one retirement from a field of 24 cars, Pastor crossed the line in 18th place to complete his first full race distance in Formula One. The team now returns to Grove with lessons learnt from the opening three flyaways from which to develop the cars in time for the first round of the European season in Turkey on 6th May.

Sam Michael, Technical Director:

There is nothing satisfying about finishing out of the points. Reliability-wise, however, it was positive to get both cars to the finish. There were stages during the race when our performance was respectable so we need to focus on those areas and improve our qualifying pace. We have some sound upgrades planned for Istanbul and we will be concentrating our efforts on those.

Pastor Maldonado:

Pastor Maldonado, Williams F1 Team

Photo by: xpb.cc

I'm pleased that we finished the race because we now have more data to analyse how the FW33 is working over a race distance which we haven't had to date. My car felt ok, but we need to find more speed and improve our performance. We have a long gap between now and Turkey to look over the data and make improvements.

Rubens Barrichello:

We opted for a two-stop strategy today, others did three, but I don't think that made a difference. The car isn't performing as well as it should. I am going to work hard to help the team improve it. I need this car to be performing better and I know we can make it happen.

Source: Williams