20/07/2007
NEWS STORY
The team had a productive free practice today, steadily working through a comprehensive set-up programme for Sunday's European Grand Prix. Despite typically temperamental Eifel weather, with driving rain prior to the start of the afternoon session and threatening winds during it, the AT&T Williams team covered over 500 kilometres of the mighty Nurburgring, gaining valuable set-up data for what could be a lottery qualifying session and race.
Nico Rosberg: It wasn't easy to find the right set-up today. It was especially difficult in the afternoon because it was very windy and the rain before the session took a lot of the rubber off the track. I'm not completely happy with the car, but we tested a lot of options and we've definitely learnt a few things. We therefore have some good ideas on how we can improve it in time for tomorrow's qualifying. Tyre-wise, this weekend could be very interesting because the weather is making the selection very hard.
Alex Wurz: The Nurburgring weather made it all a bit different today. Everyone was running varying programmes, including me, just because we had to react to the weather forecast. We had an interesting day, going through a lot of data. Everything was ok, but I'm a little bit upset because I lost half a second on my fastest lap due to a problem in the last corner. Anyway, all in all, I feel pretty comfortable on this track.
Sam Michael, Technical Director: It was a good practice today, especially considering the wet weather in the early part of the second session. We worked through our programme; looking at different tyre options, cooling and race set-up. We also evaluated through three new tyres in the morning as we were aware of the risk of rain in the afternoon and had to make sure we had a tyre compare. Overall, we've achieved what we wanted to and now have all the information needed to make sure we are prepared for qualifying and the race.
To check out our Nurburgring practice gallery, click here