Despite a disappointing qualifying, Williams were able to take two points away from Barcelona after Rubens Barrichello brought his FW32 home in ninth.
The Brazilian climbed from 17th to 12th on the opening lap and drove a clean race to take his third top-ten finish of the season. “After Saturday's disappointment this is a good result,” said Barrichello. “We had a great start today, which allowed me to overtake five cars, and our pace was strong enough to stay with the Renaults and the Force Indias. We need to analyse it, but I think we were on the verge of a tyre issue in the last five laps. If it weren't for that, we would have finished closer to the guys just ahead of me. I am really happy considering where we were yesterday.”
Nico Hulkenberg started 13th but could only bring his Williams home in 15th after sustaining damage when running off the track. “I had quite a good start,” said the German. “I don't understand why yet, but I always felt like I was in the wrong place at the wrong time going into the corners in the first lap. After the first stop, I went offline and damaged the car which resulted in a lot less downforce. From there, it became a very difficult race for me.”
Sam Michael, the Williams technical director, praised Barrichello’s first lap overtaking prowess, and is now shifting his attention to the race next weekend: “That was a good recovery after yesterday's qualifying. Both cars had great starts and Rubens put in an awesome first lap to make up more places. Rubens' race pace was strong up until the final few laps for which we had to slow him down to ensure we didn't have a problem with the tyres. We'll be looking into that for the next race. Nico drove a good first stint, but unfortunately damaged the car after his pitstop which caused a loss of downforce. Our focus now moves on to Monaco.“
