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The AT&T Williams team’s competitive form during this weekend’s European Grand Prix at Valencia concluded with Rubens Barrichello crossing the line in fourth place in Sunday afternoon’s race, a result that was still standing after a post race penalty of five seconds was imposed.
“It was great fun out there today and the car was behaving well throughout the race,” he said. “We really seem to be heading in the right direction with the development of the car and I hope that this improved performance continues for the rest of the season.”
Meanwhile, while running in a points-paying tenth position teammate Nico Hulkenberg’s FW32 suffered an exhaust failure which put him out of the race on lap 50. He too was given a five second penalty but it had no effect.
“It was going really well and points were definitely possible today. I was running in tenth before the safety car came out. It wasn’t good timing for me because I had called in a flat spot on my tyre half a lap earlier and wanted to pit but by then it was too late,” he explained.
“Combined with having to stack, I really lost all my places there. When the safety car came in I couldn’t keep Alonso behind me, but after that it was quite a processional race up until something caught fire on my car. That obviously ended it for me.”
“That was a good performance today by both cars, and definitely a step forward,” added Sam Michael. “Unfortunately, an exhaust failure cost Nico a possible point today and we will be investigating the cause back at the factory. The team is now looking forward to its home race at Silverstone and consolidating the step in performance we’ve made with further upgrades for the FW32.” |
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