Sunday: Another race to forget for Williams
Black Sunday for Team Williams at the Indian Grand Prix. After seeing Barrichello's race ruined by a broken front wing at the start, the men from Grove drank the cup to the dregs with Maldonado's retirement due to a gearbox problem.
Rubens Barrichello – 15th:
« I lost my nose in the first corner after the start, so I had to come in for an unscheduled pit stop. It ruined my race from the beginning because I came out of the pits so far behind.
After that, we had to change our strategy to make only one stop to avoid losing more time. We moved up but not enough to score points. It’s a shame because our times were solid and the tire degradation was OK, so we could have done better.
Pastor Maldonado – Retirement:
« We encountered an issue with the gearbox today, but we do not yet know the exact cause, so we need to take a look at it.
My pace seemed pretty good before that, and the tires were working well: it’s just bad luck.
We must now focus on the last two races.
Mark Gillan, Chief Operations Engineer:
« Initially, Rubens touched the rear wing of Pastor’s car while trying to defend against Kobayashi. Rubens damaged his front wing and had to pit, switching from soft to hard tires. His pace was good throughout the race, both on the first stint and on the last stint with soft tires, showing a clear improvement in our performance compared to previous Grand Prix.
Pastor also had a solid race but had to stop early with a gearbox problem, the origin of which we still need to find.
