Williams point-less streak continued in Spain despite a top-ten start for Pastor Maldonado.
Technical director Sam Michael said the team had a lot to work on: “Although our end positions don’t look like it, we are improving but it is extremely tight in the midfield. If you don’t get it right, you end up 15th instead of 10th.
“The main thing for us now is to keep focused and to improve the upgrades we bring to the car.
“Over the next couple of races in particular we need to get the front and rear wings and the diffuser working. Today we had a problem with the rear jack on both cars so we will look into that before Monaco.”
| Rubens Barrichello | Pastor Maldonado | |
| Qualifying position | 19 | 9 |
| Qualifying time comparison (Q1) | 1’26.910 (+3.504) | 1’23.406 |
| Race position | 17 | 15 |
| Laps | 64/66 | 65/66 |
| Pit stops | 4 | 4 |
Williams drivers’ lap times throughout the race (in seconds):
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 | 61 | |
| Rubens Barrichello | 107.077 | 95.18 | 95.129 | 94.693 | 94.716 | 94.248 | 94.265 | 93.952 | 93.675 | 94.548 | 97.342 | 118.04 | 90.996 | 92.666 | 91.586 | 91.292 | 91.015 | 91.124 | 91.933 | 92.571 | 92.727 | 92.647 | 94.975 | 108.174 | 90.263 | 90.224 | 90.302 | 90.116 | 90.416 | 90.681 | 90.846 | 91.041 | 91.463 | 92.04 | 94.1 | 109.967 | 91.595 | 91.559 | 91.456 | 91.262 | 91.786 | 90.81 | 90.807 | 91.118 | 91.799 | 92.34 | 91.19 | 91.375 | 92.214 | 91.863 | 91.947 | 92.256 | 92.397 | 94.907 | 107.214 | 87.222 | 88.652 | 87.808 | 87.629 | 86.891 | 87.991 |
| Pastor Maldonado | 102.255 | 93.713 | 92.865 | 92.747 | 92.907 | 92.201 | 92.648 | 95.624 | 109.981 | 91.695 | 92.954 | 91.452 | 91.421 | 92.886 | 93.407 | 92.139 | 92.002 | 92.058 | 91.927 | 95.89 | 111.772 | 89.394 | 90.119 | 91.427 | 90.208 | 90.804 | 91.655 | 91.593 | 90.464 | 90.554 | 90.544 | 91.057 | 90.761 | 90.956 | 92.082 | 94.636 | 110.433 | 90.249 | 90.749 | 90.376 | 91.688 | 90.576 | 92.28 | 91.025 | 90.598 | 90.717 | 90.823 | 90.321 | 90.524 | 91.492 | 90.931 | 93.575 | 95.21 | 108.76 | 89.883 | 89.682 | 89.868 | 89.922 | 89.921 | 89.759 | 89.862 |
Rubens Barrichello
Barrichello’s qualifying was ruined by a gearbox problem, leaving him 19th on the grid albeit with a full stock of fresh soft tyres.
He started the race on hard tyres with the intention of getting that stint out of the way early. But he had to run a final stint on hard tyres again and, like Maldonado, he was delayed by slow pit stops due to the jack problem.
More problems with the Kinetic Energy Recovery System cost him further time. “That’s another race with no points”, he said. “We need to improve”.
Rubens Barrichello 2011 form guide
Pastor Maldonado
Gave the team some cheer by making it into Q3 for the first time. “The car wasn’t great so we took a bit of a risk and decided to run the new rear wing in qualifying”, he said.
But having started ninth he was down to 13th by the first corner: “We didn’t have a great start, which is something we need to work on.”
Made four stops like his team mate – who he passed at one point. Finished the race trying to pass Sebastien Buemi for 14th.
Pastor Maldonado 2011 form guide
2011 Spanish Grand Prix
Image © Williams/LAT
Oliver
23rd May 2011, 12:40
It is strange to see a tem like Sauber, scoring points in every race ( yeah I know, first race), yet a team like Williams, struggling to make it past 15th place.
It’s hard to point a finger at what exactly the problem is. But it’s mighty sad and I fear Williams are contemplating finishing in 9th position in the constructors.
bosyber
23rd May 2011, 12:48
Sauber just seem to be quietly doing their own thing, not going for super speed, but a bit more moderate, and much more drivable car, allowing them to have good races wherever they qualify.
I think comparing Williams and FI at this time is a bit more apt, they both have issues getting the updates working as well as they would like, but FI have more reliability, and seem to be more on top of what to expect from the car in the race (maybe more realism?).
Also, FI have two drivers that they can give a working car to do a good job, Williams seem unable to get both cars reliable and both drivers in a position to race well.
It is still sad to see them struggling so much.
Fixy (@)
23rd May 2011, 14:45
Barrichello last year beat the highly-rated Hulkenberg, and he is excellent in providing development information due to his experience. Maldonado is faring badly compared to Di Resta, and both are rookies.
Andy C
23rd May 2011, 15:04
This whole “good development driver” thing was something that Rubens himself was lauding at the back half of last year, saying this was the most he’d had a chance to assist in the direction of a car for a long time.
On the current car, he’s suddenly saying everything is unnacceptable, yet presumably he’s been part of the dev direction they’ve taken.
Todfod (@todfod)
23rd May 2011, 12:49
Maldonado was back to his poor form in the race, but hats off to him in Quali. He put his car just a tenth of a second within Massa’s time. Gotta feel sorry for Williams though, it looks like they will be battling the Lotus for the 9th spot in the WCC.
BasCB (@bascb)
23rd May 2011, 13:47
I bet it got them a feel a stone fall off their harts.
In the end it was just a small dot of light at the end of a very long and deep tunnel though.
US_Peter (@us_peter)
24th May 2011, 4:16
I’ve yet to be impressed by hm in any way, but if you believe Will Buxton, Maldonado flys at Monaco and can be unstoppable. If they really have made an improvement in the car, he could at least have his best finish so far, even if he doesn’t make it into the points. It’ll be interesting to see if that carries over from GP2 to F1, given the increase in speed.
dyslexicbunny (@dyslexicbunny)
23rd May 2011, 12:53
Two typos in the first bit: Sprain and focussed.
Then again, perhaps the first is a joke about the race. If so, I love it.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
23rd May 2011, 13:36
Corrected, thanks.
Mr draw
23rd May 2011, 13:59
Barrichello’s early first pitstop looks totally insane. The punishment was that final pitstop at the very end of the race.
Alex
23rd May 2011, 14:30
So…
Sam Michael: “we need to get the front and rear wings and the diffuser working.”
Sam Michael, again: “we had a problem with the rear jack … so we will look into that”
Barrichello’s gearbox failed.
Barrichello’s KERS failed.
Pastor Maldonado: “We didn’t have a great start, which is something we need to work on.”
Does anything work properly on this car?
dyslexicbunny
23rd May 2011, 15:02
I believe it does a fantastic job of keeping the livery attached. Haven’t noticed that coming off yet.
Skett
23rd May 2011, 17:40
Well thats good, the livery is the best bit!
Andy C
23rd May 2011, 15:07
Maldonado is taking time to settle in, no doubt. But cant people remember how Kamui also had a slow start to his first full season, then picked up.
The williams is a car that even Barichello is struggling to get into a decent quali and race position at the moment, so why should Pastor be any different.
He is an absolute Monaco demon by the way, so watch out for this weekend. I think from memory he’s won the GP 2 race for something like 4 of the last 5 years.
As much as everyone wants to think the only reason he’s in F1 is because of his sponsors, I cant accept that. I’m sorry but you dont get to win the GP2 championship on sponsors bucks alone…
Good luck for the rest of the season pastor.
Steph (@)
23rd May 2011, 18:47
That’s true but that season his main competition was mainly rookies.
TFLB
23rd May 2011, 22:34
But Maldonado never had a top team until 2009, when he was ahead of Hulkenberg until Germany. He then had a run of bad form/bad luck until the end of the season. In GP2, of course, if you have a bad result in race 1, there is very little chance of points in race 2, and that seems to be what happened to him. People always say that Hulkenberg destroyed him, but that is a case of reading too much from the final championship standings.
And by the way, in terms of raw pace Maldonado has been closer to Barrichello than Hulkenberg was at this stage last year.
Mike
24th May 2011, 7:16
I’m really not impressed, There’s quite a few guys waiting for their turn at F1 that have shown more potential. Including Nico.
TFLB
24th May 2011, 7:35
Hulkenberg had his chance and blew i for a number of reasons. Give Maldonado some time!
Piero
23rd May 2011, 15:24
Maybe not on sponsor bucks alone, but it did take him 4 years and early graduations for Petrov and Di Grassi to win it against a field full of 2nd year drivers and rookies.
Speed is bot his problem though, it has never been (more like lack of consistency and wild mistakes), and as you say he is an absolute beast at Monaco, where good things should be expected from him.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
23rd May 2011, 20:33
Depressing to say the least. However, they know how bad things are. Let’s look forward to 2012.
I guess the irony is that they would love to ditch this year and focus on next year, sounds early but with technical staff changes it’s important to get a head start. However you need decent points to secure some sort of cash reward from the FIA.
wasiF1 (@wasif1)
24th May 2011, 2:55
Not sure whether Williams will have one of the best season of their life this season.
Piero
25th May 2011, 22:49
He has guaranteed time. PDVSA bought that seat for at least 3 years, and the venezuelans in GP2 are slow, so he has no threats in the horizon.
PS who gave Hulkenberg time?