FORMULA 1

WILLIAMS F1 Barcelona Test Day One

Driver: Felipe Massa
Chassis/Engine: FW36-03 / PU106 Hybrid
Locations: Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain
Objectives: Aero evaluation and mechanical work
Weather: Wet in the morning, cool and dry in the afternoon
Maximum air & track temps: 16°C / 19°C

Rod Nelson, Chief Test and Support Engineer: As expected we had rain this morning so we had a wet test plan in place, which was successful. This was designed to help us in any wet races or qualifying situations in future so we gathered some useful data. This afternoon it dried up so we could complete our aero tests and some longer runs. As usual during testing, we have plenty of data to analyse now as the day has been very productive.

Felipe Massa: Every time we get in the car we are learning. We didn’t get in as many laps as we had planned as it rained in the morning, but we still used this time to improve our wet performance. The car has shown over the weekend and today that it is very competitive. We tested set-up and aerodynamics changes today but there were no new parts so we could focus on the finer details. It’s great to leave Barcelona knowing we have made a step forward.