After a positive qualifying session, Williams were brought crashing down to earth today as another race passed without them scoring a single point.
Rubens Barrichello and Pastor Maldonado qualified eleventh and fourteenth respectively for today’s Turkish Grand Prix, and optimistic of scoring points. However, they leave Istanbul disappointed, finishing fifteenth and seventeenth.
“We brought both cars to the finish again, but we just weren't fast enough today,” said Technical Director Sam Michael. “In the first stint of the race we showed some decent pace against a number of cars that finished in the points. However from the second stint onwards we couldn't match the laptimes of those same cars.
“Small changes in the car balance can have a large effect on tyre degradation and wear. There were also some issues with cooling the KERS during the race. Our focus is now on the upgrades that we have for the Barcelona Grand Prix that will give the car a boost in performance.”
Barrichello sounded frustrated with the problems that Williams had today, clearly suggesting that the team need to do better. “We struggled quite a bit with straight line speed today and at various points during the race I couldn't use KERS which made it difficult to defend and I also struggled with it locking up under braking when I was charging,” explained the Brazilian. “We had a better qualifying session but we need to make some changes to the car to ensure the rear tyres can get to the end of the race in good shape. So it is up to us to improve our pace.”
Maldonado fell victim to a drive-through penalty after speeding in the pitlane, which did not help his eventual finishing position. However, the Venezuelan complains that handling problems in the early stages ruined his race day. “It was difficult from the beginning of the race,” he said. “It was difficult to maintain a consistent pace in the first two stints because I had a lot of oversteer. We had a much better pace towards the end of the race when on primes but I made a mistake by speeding in the pitlane which cost me a drive-through penalty.”
