Williams are bringing more upgrades to Valencia this weekend in a bid to turn around their season and become regular points finishers.
Technical director Sam Michael acknowledges that qualifying will be important around the Spanish street circuit, and hopes that William’s version of the ‘F-duct’ will help them match previous performances at this race.
“The track provides little grip at the outset, the multitude of corners place some considerable stress on the tyres and the coastal location can whip up some sea breezes which can affect the balance of the car,” said Michael, outlining the challenges faced by the teams.
“As overtaking opportunities are also limited around Valencia, a good grid position is important. We’ve secured points at each of the two races in Valencia, and that is our aim again this time round. We will have further upgrades on the FW32, including the development blown rear wing.”
Rubens Barrichello won here last year, claiming his tenth career victory and putting him back into contention for the 2009 championship. “I have great memories of Valencia,” says the Brazilian.
Barrichello has clear aims for this weekend, and is hopeful that updates to his FW32 will help him achieve them: “Cosworth is doing well to improve its consistency and the team are bringing some more upgrades to Spain so I’m looking forward to seeing where their combined efforts put us. The challenge in Valencia is to get into Q3 and score some points.”
Nico Hulkenberg is a fan of this circuit as well, and believes that Williams are now heading in the right direction. “Valencia is a great track, I really like it,” said the German. “I know it well from racing there in GP2 last year and I’m very much looking forward to driving it in the FW32 because it's a circuit I feel quite comfortable on.
“Like Monaco and Montreal, there are walls everywhere but the track's a bit wider and I like the challenge.
“We’ll have more new parts for this race but we'll have to wait and see what improvements they bring to the car. We are inching a bit closer to the top ten, as we showed in qualifying in Montreal, but we have to continue pushing and gain more tenths to get into the top ten consistently.”
