Assessment: Williams leaves Shanghai empty-handed

Williams did not live up to their expectations today. The English team suffered from a lack of reliability and clarity in strategic choices, which is unusual for Sir Frank Williams’ team.

Rosberg finishes only 15th, hindered throughout the race, and Nakajima went off the track several times, causing problems with the gearbox. Analysis will be the key to a hoped-for result starting in Bahrain. Wait, and see!

Nico Rosberg – 15th:

« The main problem I had today was the water on my visor. I don’t know why, there was always fog and water getting into my helmet. It’s because of my visor. It has happened to me before and apparently the problem hasn’t been solved… So I couldn’t see much. »

« With 15 laps to go, I wanted to try putting on the intermediate tires to see, and unfortunately, they weren’t as effective as I would have liked. After a few good laps, the rain reappeared and bothered me. Bahrain is only a week away and we’re still waiting for a good result that the team deserves. »

Kazuki Nakajima – Retirement:

« I had a transmission problem, so unfortunately I couldn’t continue the race. It was very difficult with this lack of visibility. There was a lot of water on the track and it was complicated to keep the track on the right trajectory, especially at the last corner. I made some mistakes, but it was the same for everyone today. »

Patrick Head – Chief Engineer:

« We thought the safety car was going to stay out longer, so we decided to bring Nico Rosberg in before it came in. However, it didn’t stay on the track, and Rosberg could have waited before entering the pits. That would have been much better for the strategy… We then tried to battle with Alonso, who was apparently on the same strategy, but it was difficult. For Nakajima, he had a gearbox failure. »

« I am not happy with our performance today. We made poor pit stops and we need to review the situation to ensure it doesn’t happen again. The reliability was also unexpected and that’s not like us… We will do better in Bahrain and I want to support everyone after the passing of Jim Douglas, with us for 28 years… »