Williams Technical Director Mike Coughlan has shown optimism that the FW35 will work well at the Bahrain International Circuit.
The Grove based squad has so far suffered a terrible and pointless opening to the 2013 season, 11th place for Valtteri Bottas in the Malaysian Grand Prix being their best result so far. Could they be looking at another disappointing season similar to that of 2011?
The team are one of only three teams yet to score points, joining back markers Caterham and Marussia. However the team are optimistic about the next round in Bahrain, saying their car should be better suited to the technically challenging track.
The team are also planning major upgrades for the Spanish Grand Prix in May, hoping that their upgrades can help to move them up the order.
Technical Director Mike Coughlan is quoted from Crash.net describing the main challenges that teams face at the Sakhir circuit. He said "Bahrain is a circuit that has some key characteristics that will present new challenges for the teams, it's a high braking circuit so brake wear will be a factor, it is tough on rear tyres and it has a high ambient temperature. We feel that the current car, whilst not as competitive as we would like, will be more competitive in Bahrain because of these factors."
He continued "For engines it is a high power, high efficiency circuit that places a premium on straight line speed and the Renault engine should be robust at this sort of circuit."
He described the disappointment within the team that the start to the season has yielded 0 points so far, saying "It's been disappointing not to score points in our first three races, but we can be pleased with the fact that Valtteri has managed to bring the car home in every race so far with very solid drives."
Pastor Maldonado, on the other hand, has retired from two of the last three Grand Prix's. The first was due to a spin, whilst the second was thanks to a mechanical problem. He finished 14th in last weekends Chinese Grand Prix but this was behind rookie Bottas.
Both drivers admitted that tyre wear would be prominent over the race weekend, despite changes to the allocated compounds by Pirelli. Bottas revealed that Friday practice will be key for getting the perfect set-up for the rest of the weekend.
"It's been a very busy start to my career with two back to back races in a row, but it has meant that I have had a lot of time in the car and the chance to try and understand its characteristics," he revealed.
"The track in Bahrain isn't used much throughout the year so can be quite green and the dusty surface means that conditions can change quite a lot from one session to another, so it will be important to keep searching for the best grip on each lap."
He continued "The tyres also tend to drop off quote a lot at this circuit so in Friday practice we need to try and find a good car setup to maximise the long run performance for the race so we can keep the tyres alive longer than others."
Bottas has so far struggled in qualifying, being knocked out in two of the three first qualifying sessions so far. As noted above, tyre wear will be high so we can expect limited amounts of running in Free Practice (like we saw in China) to conserve them.
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| (c) Williams F1 Team |
The Grove based squad has so far suffered a terrible and pointless opening to the 2013 season, 11th place for Valtteri Bottas in the Malaysian Grand Prix being their best result so far. Could they be looking at another disappointing season similar to that of 2011?
The team are one of only three teams yet to score points, joining back markers Caterham and Marussia. However the team are optimistic about the next round in Bahrain, saying their car should be better suited to the technically challenging track.
The team are also planning major upgrades for the Spanish Grand Prix in May, hoping that their upgrades can help to move them up the order.
Technical Director Mike Coughlan is quoted from Crash.net describing the main challenges that teams face at the Sakhir circuit. He said "Bahrain is a circuit that has some key characteristics that will present new challenges for the teams, it's a high braking circuit so brake wear will be a factor, it is tough on rear tyres and it has a high ambient temperature. We feel that the current car, whilst not as competitive as we would like, will be more competitive in Bahrain because of these factors."
He continued "For engines it is a high power, high efficiency circuit that places a premium on straight line speed and the Renault engine should be robust at this sort of circuit."
He described the disappointment within the team that the start to the season has yielded 0 points so far, saying "It's been disappointing not to score points in our first three races, but we can be pleased with the fact that Valtteri has managed to bring the car home in every race so far with very solid drives."
Pastor Maldonado, on the other hand, has retired from two of the last three Grand Prix's. The first was due to a spin, whilst the second was thanks to a mechanical problem. He finished 14th in last weekends Chinese Grand Prix but this was behind rookie Bottas.
Both drivers admitted that tyre wear would be prominent over the race weekend, despite changes to the allocated compounds by Pirelli. Bottas revealed that Friday practice will be key for getting the perfect set-up for the rest of the weekend.
"It's been a very busy start to my career with two back to back races in a row, but it has meant that I have had a lot of time in the car and the chance to try and understand its characteristics," he revealed.
"The track in Bahrain isn't used much throughout the year so can be quite green and the dusty surface means that conditions can change quite a lot from one session to another, so it will be important to keep searching for the best grip on each lap."
He continued "The tyres also tend to drop off quote a lot at this circuit so in Friday practice we need to try and find a good car setup to maximise the long run performance for the race so we can keep the tyres alive longer than others."
Bottas has so far struggled in qualifying, being knocked out in two of the three first qualifying sessions so far. As noted above, tyre wear will be high so we can expect limited amounts of running in Free Practice (like we saw in China) to conserve them.
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