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It was not the 300th Grand Prix that Rubens Barrichello had been hoping for at the Spa Francorchamps circuit this afternoon, the Williams racer getting caught out in the damp conditions at the start of the race, losing traction at the Bus Stop and spearing straight into Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari and out of the race.
“Despite my experience, it was very difficult to know how wet the track was on the opening lap, but it was fully wet when I came into Blanchimont,” he explained. “I was closing the door on Rosberg and when I touched the brakes, even though it was quite early, it wasn’t sufficient to stop the car.”
“The car went straight on into Alonso, for which I'm sorry. It's also sad for the team. We've had such a positive weekend that a good result would have been a nice conclusion. Despite not having a good outcome in my 300th race, I’m confident we will go well in the 301st!”
Meanwhile, teammate Nico Hulkenberg was left as the sole runner for the grove based squad, but then, before the first pitstop window, the young German lost full throttle control which triggered a series of difficult pitstops, challenging car control in changeable weather and constant revisions to tyre plans on the pitwall. Despite a number of considered gambles to retrieve position, he finished a difficult day in P14.
“Pretty early on in the race I had a throttle control problem which made the car very difficult to handle, so we made an unscheduled stop, but the engine died in the box and had to be re-started,” Nico explained. “As a result I dropped position and then had to cope in the rain without the full engine control, which caused some spins. We took some tyre gambles at the end to try and recover something.”
“Today was not a good day with Rubens out on the first lap and Nico had a control system problem that compromised the driveability and caused the engine to cut in his pitstop. So looking forward, our pace is improving and we will perform better in the forthcoming races,” added Sam Michael, Technical Director. |
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