CHINESE GRAND PRIX - FREE PRACTICE
The AT&T Williams team had a methodical day of preparation
ahead of tomorrow’s qualifying for the Japanese Grand
Prix. The GP2 Rookie of the Year, Kazuki Nakajima, returned
to Friday driving duties for the team this morning, posting
a top ten practice time before Alex Wurz took up his preparations
for the rest of the weekend alongside team-mate Nico Rosberg.
Nico Rosberg:
It took me a few laps to get used to this track again, mainly
because it felt very different from last year on our current
tyres. Over the two sessions, we found some interesting results
in terms of tyres and wing level. We tried a few other things
and really made good progress with the set-up. We still need
to improve for tomorrow, but all in all we had a positive
day and I have a good outlook for tomorrow.
Alex Wurz:
I only ran in the second session today and I started on used
tyres to find my rhythm - which was not difficult, to be honest.
However, the circuit conditions were quite strange today and
I don’t think the tyres were working properly yet. That
said, it was the same for everyone, so we tried a few set-up
changes in order to try and improve the car balance.
Kazuki Nakajima:
It was the first time for me on this circuit and even though
it’s not an easy track, I enjoyed it. The first long
corner is fun, and it is then followed by plenty of corners
with high lateral loads that make the tyres work hard. The
track was quite green and dirty to start with, but it was
okay at the end and we had a consistent run. We tried a few
things for set-up and completed the programme. In summary,
we had a good session this morning and I got a lot of laps
under my belt, which was good both for my experience and for
the team. The lap times we set at the end of the morning were
reasonable, so I am quite happy with my work today.
Patrick Head, Director of Engineering:
We conducted a normal Friday programme with no mechanical
problems and we are still working on how to generate performance
from the tyres. Both tyres are very hard and so far we haven’t
been quicker on the option, but I am sure by tomorrow it will
be the quicker tyre. We will be working hard to get the cars
well prepared for qualifying tomorrow.
SESSION 1 SESSION 2
AIR TEMP 28-300C 30-310C
TRACK TEMP 38-440C 41-460C
WEATHER Sun and scattered cloud Sunny
TOP 3
K RAIKK 1:37.024
F ALONSO 1:37.108
F MASSA 1:37.128
K RAIKK 1:36.607
F ALONSO 1:36.613
F MASSA 1:36.630
CHASSIS & ENGINE 1st SESSION 2nd SESSION
N ROSBERG FW29 – 05 / H188 1:37.707 (5th) 23 LAPS 1:37.646
(9th) 36 LAPS
A WURZ FW29 – 03 / H176 - 1:38.531 (16th) 32 LAPS
K NAKAJIMA FW29 – 03 / H187 1:38.270 (9th) 30 LAPS -
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