Williams continued initial testing of their new FW32 chassis on the final day of the first F1 group test at Valencia.
The team, one of five due to be powered by the new Cosworth powerplant this year, ran German rookie Nico Hulkenburg as the team concentrated on long runs with heavy fuel loads ahead of a season which sees in-race refuelling banned.
The day was the reigning GP2 champion's first in the car, after teammate Rubens Barrichello took driving duties on the first two days of the testing session.
Today, with Nico, we worked on putting as much mileage as we could on the FW32 and achieved over 500kms at the end of the day, bringing us to a test total of 1,213.5kms,” explained technical director Sam Michael. “We spent the three days working on set-up and long runs; the main systems on the car are proving reliable and are cooling sufficiently. There are the inevitable minor teething problems to resolve between now and Jerez, but it’s been good to get out on track and start work with our new engine partner, Cosworth.”
We covered a lot of mileage today, which is good and allowed me to get used to the car,” added Hulkenburg. “And my first impressions are all positive. We did a lot of long runs on heavy fuel loads which have given us a good baseline, but we need to keep on working.”
