Formula One news

Williams upbeat in Istanbul

Williams' Kazuki Nakajima and Nico Rosberg closed Friday's free practice sessions for the Turkish Grand Prix in 8th and 13th places respectively, using the track time available to evaluate set-up direction. Running was somewhat restricted today, a result of Istanbul's cooler May conditions and a damp track at the start of both sessions. 

"Practice was good for me today," said Nakajima. "In the morning I struggled a little with the grip levels because the track was really slippery, but it improved a lot in the afternoon. The rain at the start of the second session prevented me from carrying out some of my scheduled programme, but I did at least do a tyre compare which has given us some useful information. We're looking in reasonable shape for tomorrow's qualifying; there's still some work to do tonight on set-up, but I'm happy."

Nico Rosberg commented, "We covered quite a lot of ground today, especially on the aero side. We have definitely made some progress and are taking the right direction, but we are not 100% there yet. It was quite slippery out there, and not easy to keep the car on the track, but I don't think the temperatures here are causing us too many problems, which is a plus." 

Technical director Sam Michael added, "It was a reasonably productive day for us, especially taking into account the weather conditions. The track was damp at the start of the first session, due to track washing, and then it rained in the break so we had to start both sessions on wet tyres. Apart from that, we worked through our tyre comparison and have a good idea what direction we'll take on the set-up for tomorrow."

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