Williams Martini Racing have today announced the appointment of Dave Redding to the position of Team Manager. Dave will be responsible for the overall management of the operational and sporting aspects of the Williams racing team.
This forum contains threads to discuss teams themselves. Anything not technical about the cars, including restructuring, performances etc belongs here.
Just seen his interview with sky f1 after being out q1 he said he is ok with being 3 tenths off his teammate ....never heard a driver be ok with being beaten by a team mate before
Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Barcelona
4.655 km / 2.892 miles
Weather: Warm and dry
Temperature: Air:26-27°C Track:39-47°C
Q1
F. Massa 1:22.138 (14th)
L. Stroll 1:22.411 (18th)
Quickest time: L. Hamilton 1:20.511
Q2
F. Massa 1:21.222 (8th)
L. Stroll -
Quickest time: L. Hamilton 1:20.210
Q3
F. Massa 1:21.232 (9th)
L. Stroll -
Quickest time: L. Hamilton 1:19.149
Qualifying Notes
- Felipe Massa qualified ninth and Lance Stroll 18th for the Spanish Grand Prix
- Both drivers struggled for grip throughout Q1 with Felipe making it through to Q2 following his second run on the soft tyre. Lance was in P8 following his opening run on the softs, but fell to P18 as others set their times. He improved on his second run but it unfortunately wasn’t enough and he remained in 18th position.
- In Q2 Felipe jumped from P13 to P8 with his second, and final run of the session, where he set a 1:21.222
- In Q3 Felipe set a 1:21.232 on his one and only run on soft tyres which was good enough for P9 after a closely fought session
Paddy Lowe, Chief Technical Officer: It was a tough session and very close across the whole midfield with tenths of a second making differences of five or ten places. We were forced to do two runs in Q1 with both cars, and even with that it was quite close for Felipe to get through to Q2. Unfortunately Lance didn’t get through, although his time was not far off Felipe’s at that moment. Going into Q2 we made a few changes to our approach to the lap to try and find more time. That proved helpful and we managed to get Felipe into Q3. We made further improvements, but unfortunately Felipe made a mistake in the last corner and didn’t get the place we wanted, which really goes back to Q1 where we had to spend the extra set, otherwise he could have had another go. In terms of strategy for tomorrow, as we came into the weekend it could have been one, two or three stops, but I think the one-stop is out of the question and it’s between two and three now.
Felipe Massa: It wasn’t a fantastic qualifying, because we knew the best we could achieve today was seventh, and we’re ninth. I struggled with overheating on the tyres throughout qualifying, especially in sector three. It was quite difficult even to get into Q2, and Q3, because the tyres were getting too hot. I was really slow on all of my out-laps, slower than all the other cars, but it just wasn’t working. I then decided to go even slower to see if the tyres could survive for the last sector. It helped, because I picked up some pace, maybe four tenths, and I managed to make it through to Q2. In Q3 I was the slowest car on my out-lap again, but the tyres were too hot in sector three and I lost a bit of time and maybe a couple of positions because of the issue. But, the race is tomorrow. We will try to do the best we can and fight with the teams around us, even the McLaren is in the mix. Fernando did a great job today.
Lance Stroll: It has just been tough for us today and all weekend to get the tyre working properly. The low grip situation is hard for us. But I was actually not too disappointed by my lap. I was three tenths off Felipe and for me at this stage that is not too bad, but it has definitely been tough to get our car where it should be and working the way it normally does. We can only focus on tomorrow now, as today was not what we were hoping for. The pitstop strategy will be a tricky call as it’s difficult to overtake here, but we will look into that tonight and see which way we go.
Everybody in Williams are also trying their best to protect Stroll from any stress, they all are acting optimistic in media about him but in between all this Force India is getting away with 4th in constructors, which is win-win for both the team.
Soon Renault might also get ahead of them, only if Palmer starts performing.
I expected some over exuberance, mistakes, fluctuating pace... but what we are getting from Stroll is just bad driving 24/7, quite simply not good enough.
Massa struggled with grip today in qualification. I do not remember the corner/corners exactly, but the car was unstable in high-medium-speed corners, so this must have been in middle sector. This is probably also linked to the overheating tyres - the car is sliding in the first and middle sector due to lack of grip, which leads to the overheating of tyres?! Is it possible?
Still, Massa managed to improve and achieved well-deserved P9. Stroll did not!
Massa could have been 4th today without the puncture and broken wing ruining his race. He jumped Perez at the start, was challenging Alonso for position, with the retirements ahead would have only needed to fend off the Force Indias to finish best of the rest behind Mercedes/Ferrari/RB.
I'm not worried by the pace of the car, only by Stroll's driving.
Not a good race, Force India is already running away with it, they always seem to capitalize on their positions even though their car isn't outright better.
And with Stroll being utterly crap i don't see a way back.
Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Barcelona
4.655 km / 2.892 miles
Race Notes:
- Felipe Massa finished 13th and Lance Stroll 16th at the Spanish Grand Prix
- Lance made a good start on a set of new soft tyres, avoiding the action to move up from P18 to P13 on the opening lap
- After a great start, Felipe and Fernando Alonso made contact at turn two, resulting in a front-right puncture for Felipe and an early pitstop for a new front wing
- Lance made his first pitstop on lap 12 for a new set of soft tyres
- On lap 33 Felipe and Stoffel Vandoorne made contact at turn one bringing out the virtual safety car as Vandoorne retired
- Both drivers made their final stops under the virtual safety car for medium tyres
- On the penultimate lap Felipe passed Lance for P14 and went on to finish 13th, while Lance fell back in the closing stages to finish 16th
- Felipe is now ninth in the Drivers’ Championship, while the team is now sixth in the Constructors’ Championship with 18 points, one point behind Toro Rosso
Paddy Lowe, Chief Technical Officer: It was tough day, particularly with the various incidents at the front, making it a bad day to not be up there in the points. Felipe had a fantastic start and gained several places, but unfortunately he came into contact with Fernando, which caused a front-right puncture. That ruined his race. His pace in clean air was very strong: He was matching Daniel lap-for-lap on his first stint. I think we had the potential to have a very good result. For Lance, he finished the race without incident and he was able to learn more about tyre management and race craft. We hope he can continue to progress in Monaco.
Felipe Massa: I’m so disappointed. I had a fantastic start, passing Perez and Alonso on the straight, and then I got to turn one and saw the incident ahead. I then got to turn two and Alonso was suddenly on the outside of the corner, we touched and I picked up a puncture, which ruined my race. We had a big opportunity to finish fourth today, which I think I could have done because we had good pace. It’s really painful because we lost so many points today as a team.
Lance Stroll: It was not a great race. I have had better ones and I just found it frustrating. The start was good as were the first couple of stints on the soft tyres and I had a good pace at the beginning, but we just struggled on the mediums and started to lose grip. I didn’t feel great in the car and couldn’t get it feeling the way I wanted. It was just one of those races, but I am sure it will be better next time. At every race I get more and more confident, but this weekend was just a tough one.
