Friday: Williams F1 Relearns to Suffer
The long straight lines of Monza are sorely missed by Williams. In the twists and turns of Marina Bay, the car is no longer in its element, and this is painfully reflected in the timesheets.
Felipe Massa (No.19) – 13th and 17th
The Brazilian driver was clearly not having a good time this Friday. The main problem seems to be the car’s balance: « It was really difficult today. We struggled a lot with the car’s balance, and we need to solve this issue tonight, otherwise it will be a tough weekend for us. We saw some progress between the first and second sessions, but we need to do even more for Free Practice 3 to qualify in a satisfactory position. We knew this track wouldn’t suit our car, but we did a lot of testing that will help us tomorrow. »
Valtteri Bottas (No. 77) – 15th and 18th
The man with four podiums confirms his teammate’s harsh assessment and notes that to make matters worse, Williams is also suffering considerably with the super-soft tires: « Today was not an easy day for us. We struggled with the car’s balance from the first few minutes, particularly with the rear. Tonight, we will focus primarily on finding ways to extract maximum performance from the option tires to improve our times, since the difference is only half a second with the primes for us, whereas it’s two seconds for the other teams. I don’t think our position today is truly representative, but the car is certainly not as easy to drive here as in the recent races, so we need to work hard to improve our times. »
