Rubens Barrichello - Photo Credit: Glenn Dunbar/LAT Photographi
Williams had a relatively uneventful day of Friday practice in Brazil although Pastor Maldonado ended the day only seventeenth fastest and Rubens Barrichello was eighteenth.
“The car felt better this morning than it did this afternoon so we will have some work to do in practice tomorrow to make sure that we are in the best possible shape for qualifying,” said Barrichello, who is competing in his home race this weekend. “Apart from that, it was a normal day with everything going according to plan.”
Maldonado very much enjoyed his first experience of Interlagos: “This track is good fun!” he exclaimed. “We had no problems today and worked our way through the scheduled test programme, which included a lot of long runs on various tyre compounds, which is positive. That has given us some good information which we will use to make our preparations for the race.”
Williams Chief Operations Engineer Mark Gillan explained what the team had accomplished today, and issued a weather warning. “We completed a full day’s programme in preparation for both qualifying and the race, testing the three different tyre compounds and optimising both mechanical and aerodynamic set-ups,” he said. “Set-up is going to be especially important given the potential changeable weather conditions throughout the weekend.”
