Formula One news

Williams ready to race in the desert

The Williams team is all set to make a return to Bahrain this weekend, as the second pair of back-to-back weekends in 2009 meets its conclusion. It has been a promising but disappointing start for the Grove-based squad so far, with only 3.5 points reward after some impressive performances from Rosberg and Nakajima.

There were no points for the Toyota-powered cars in China last weekend as Nakajima retired into the garage in the closing stages of the race before team-mate Rosberg lost control on intermediate tyres shortly afterwards.

"Once again it didn't go our way in China," the latter explained, who suffered with a water-filled visor. "Shanghai was difficult," confirmed his Japanese colleague. "The water on the track just caused you to aquaplane, particularly at the exit of the last corner, and I went off a couple of times before I finally retired with a transmission problem."

The F1 circus now travels to the Middle East for the Bahrain Grand Prix, scene of Rosberg's first race in 2006, in which he scored a point for the team. "Bahrain is one of my favourite tracks," he continued. "Last year the car went well there, and we won't have any issues with warming up the tyres. Downforce levels are always really important there for the corners, but then there's a compromise required so you can fight the other cars on the fast straights. We're confident that we can finally get a good result."

Located in the desert and built on the site of an old camel farm, the Sakhir track offers many vantage points for spectators although Nakajima will not be one of them. "Bahrain isn't a particularly interesting place to visit!" he added. "There's not much to do or see, so I think I'll be staying in my hotel a lot!"

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