Williams vow to move on from Malaysia

Williams`s technical director Sam Michael says the British squad will move on and try to forget their disappointing Malaysian Grand Prix.

Much was expected from the team following their strong start to the season in Australia, where Nico Rosberg finished in third position.

But Williams struggled all weekend in Sepang, with Rosberg qualifying down in 16th place and finishing down in 14th after a troubled race. Teammate Kazuki Nakajima wound up 17th after also hitting trouble.

Rosberg lost his front wing at the start of the race, while Nakajima was slowed down by a puncture.

Michael says the team will try to learn from their mistakes in order to bounce back in Bahrain in two weeks` time.

“This was a race weekend to move on from,” said Michael. “After a poor qualifying, we tried two different strategies on the cars, Nico on a one stop and Kazuki on a two stop.

“The plan didn`t work out because Nico lost his front wing on the first lap and Kazuki had a puncture.

“We later had a problem with the fuel system on Nico`s car, meaning we had to pit earlier than planned and run some extra fuel.

“Kazuki made good progress during the first stint and it looked like the strategy was working, but then he had a puncture in the second stint, so we had to pit him earlier than scheduled too. Kazuki then went off the road and flat spotted the tyres.

“We need to learn from all the mistakes we made this weekend, look forward to Bahrain and have a good recovery.”

23.3.2008   ▪ Formula One    ▪ Malaysia, Williams    ▪ www.autosport.com