Friday: Williams hampered by their engines
Fate is against the British team after the 10-place grid penalty given to Pastor Maldonado for fitting his ninth engine of the season, as Rubens Barrichello broke his eighth block in the morning and had to resort to using an engine already used this season.
Rubens Barrichello – 24th and 16th:
« We had a setback this morning with an engine problem, so we tried to make up for lost time this afternoon. The team did a good job changing the engine between the two sessions. The one we used in the second session already has some kilometers on it as we approach the end of the season, but it worked well. »
Pastor Maldonado – 14th and 17th:
We completed the entire program scheduled for today. For me, that meant working hard on optimizing my car’s setup for the race because of my grid penalty. We still have a bit of work to do to find a better balance. If we succeed, it should be reflected in the performance.
The tires are performing well here, their degradation is rather low, so it’s positive.
