Williams endured a tough weekend at Monza, with Rubens Barrichello and Pastor Maldonado sharing the seventh row of the grid before finishing the race in 11th and 12th positions. Technical Director Sam Michael, having now completed his final European event with the Oxfordshire team, shares his opinions.
Pastor was the first Williams driver home at Monza, in 11th place. How do you sum up the team's race?
We were competitive in the first stint but unfortunately didn’t have the pace to maintain that after the pit-stops.
With two DRS zones at Monza, there was a lot of speculation about wing levels prior to the race. With hindsight, what was the best solution?
At Monza, the rear wing curve is very flat. This means that there is not as much difference in lap time between the high and low levels of rear wing. Although the DRS is an important tool for racing, the most important factor this weekend appeared to be having the optimum engine revs for the race, even if that meant compromising some overtaking capability.
The competitiveness of the FW33 improved from Friday to Saturday. What setup changes did you make on Friday night?
We had a lot of tyre blistering on Friday so we tuned the setup to minimise that.
Pastor was mystified by his accident at the start of qualifying. Can you explain what happened?
He was obviously pushing and on quite a good lap, which I was happy about because it meant having the delay with the KERS issue didn’t seem to faze him. However, on the exit of the Parabolica the rear wheels spun too quickly for him to react. Initially we thought it was due to him pressing the DRS too early, but it actually happened after that.
Both drivers made excellent getaways at the start of the race. How satisfying was that, and are starts an area that the team has worked on in recent weeks?
We have concentrated on starts a lot recently, particularly on the dyno as well as during practice sessions at the last few races.
Rubens' race was ruined at Turn 1. How was his pace, once you'd replaced his front wing?
Overall his pace was good, but on the Medium compound tyre at the beginning of the race we lost a lot of time.
Singapore comes next. What updates is the team taking to the Far East and what are your hopes for F1's only night race?
We have some upgrades for the diffuser and front wing, going back to high downforce levels. Our target, as always, is to score some more points.
Series
Formula 1
Personalities
Sam Michael
Rubens Barrichello
Pastor Maldonado
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Williams
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| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  S. Vettel | Red Bull | 1:20:46.172 |
| 2. | J. Button | McLaren | +9.590 |
| 3. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | +16.909 |
| 4. | L. Hamilton | McLaren | +17.417 |
| 5. | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | +32.677 |
| 6. | F. Massa | Ferrari | +42.993 |
| 7. | J. Alguersuari | Toro Rosso | +1 Lap |
| 8. | P. di Resta | Force India | +1 Lap |
| 9. | B. Senna | Lotus Renault | +1 Lap |
| 10. | S. Buemi | Toro Rosso | +1 Lap |
| Full results | |||
| Pastor Maldonado | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| More Pastor Maldonado photos | |||
| Rubens Barrichello | |||
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| More Rubens Barrichello photos | |||
| Sam Michael | |||
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| More Sam Michael photos | |||
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