Saturday: Nico Rosberg master of qualifications for Williams!

Williams may be disappointed to see the young and talented Nico Rosberg leave. While the FW31 seemed to struggle on this new circuit, the young German, against all odds, once again reached Q3. This season, Nico Rosberg missed Q3 only twice, at Monza and the Nurburgring. This makes him the best driver concerning this statistic in 2009.

While Nico Rosberg’s best time during the three practice sessions was 1:41.478, the German driver managed to raise his game during qualifying. He improved his time by almost a second, clocking a 1:40.661 in Q2. He will start from the 9th position tomorrow.

Kazuki Nakajima also significantly improved his times in qualifying, which might suggest that Williams was keeping a low profile during the practice sessions. However, as usual, the Japanese driver remains far from his talented teammate. Nakajima nevertheless managed to reach Q2 and will start from 14th position. Williams aims to maintain its sixth place in the constructors’ championship, but with a 2-point lead over BMW, and both BMW cars are ahead of Nico Rosberg on the grid. The task looks challenging, but Nico Rosberg is confident.

Nico Rosberg – 12th and 9th:

The session went well, I think 9th is about the best position we could achieve today. We’re struggling in the first part of the circuit, but points are certainly possible and very important for us this weekend. From the fifth row and with a good strategy for tomorrow, we can stay ahead of BMW in the constructors’ championship. As for me, I think I can hold onto my seventh place in the drivers’ championship against Jarno Trulli. It’s a good circuit, not easy and very hot, but it’s also my last race for Williams, and I want to do my best for this great team.

Kazuki Nakajima – 17th and 13th (14th fastest time):

I am a little disappointed because I wasn’t able to put everything together in Q2. But there is a reasonable gap to the top 10, so maybe I wouldn’t have made it to the final qualifying session anyway. The track demands precision at all times, and the slightest mistake is costly here, which makes it quite difficult. I don’t think it will be easy to overtake tomorrow. But due to the nature of sectors 1 and 2, I think we will have a pretty crazy first lap tomorrow. So I think anything is possible.

Rob Nelson – Chief Operations Engineer:

« It was a reasonably straightforward qualifying session, although we really expected the option tire to take the lead in Q2, which didn’t materialize. So we stayed on the prime tire, like most other teams. We were hoping that Nico would find a few more tenths to get ahead of the BMWs. but he will start on the clean side of the grid and should have a competitive race. Kazuki also seemed competitive based on his fastest laps towards the end of the first stint in Q2, but he went a bit wide at turn 14, picked up dust on his tires, and unfortunately, couldn’t do better. »