Williams expecting more in Monte Carlo

Starting ninth, Nico Rosberg was able to finish Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix one position higher and claim one championship points for the Williams Toyota team, taking their tally to 4.5 from the first five races.

The FW31 proved especially rapid in the opening rounds of the championship, but a few small errors combined with some bad luck went against the Grove-based team who- by their own admission - has been unable to capitalise on their early pace.

"Nico secured a point for the team but we really need to be getting both cars in the points more regularly than we are if we’re going to improve upon our position in the constructors’ standings," stated Technical Director Sam Michael with reference to their eighth position in the constructors' championship.

"There were some positives from this weekend in that it was encouraging to be only 0.3 seconds off the quickest time during Q2, particularly on a track where aerodynamics are the key, and the upgrade package which we brought to the race worked as expected."

While Rosberg was able to finish in the points, team-mate Kazuki Nakajima has yet to qualify in the top ten or score a championship point this year. The Japanese racer started Sunday's race an encouraging 11th however but was forced to pit for a front wing following the inevitable first lap skirmishes.

"That incident caused damage to Kazuki’s front wing end plate so we had to pit him for a new front wing assembly," Michael explained.
"Because the safety car was deployed, it fortunately didn’t cost him as much time as it could have done."

However, stuck behind the Force India Mercedes of Giancarlo Fisichella at the back of the field when the race restarted, Nakajima was unable to make the pass until late in the 66-lap event and this ruined any hopes of his first championship points. He finished a distant 13th.

While the team are disappointed with the results to date, the development race continues and the FW31 will feature further updates for the high-downforce challenge in Monte Carlo is just over a week’s time.

"We will be bringing more upgrades to the car for Monaco, as will all of the other teams," Michael continued. "Our target is obviously to score more points as we haven’t had the conversion rates we would have liked in recent races. We are typically fast on street circuits, so we are looking forward to getting the best out of the FW31 at Monte Carlo."