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Spanish GP: Friday Press Conference

NEWS STORY
07/05/2010

A question to you all. You have all brought new modifications to the cars. How are they performing so far looking at today's performance? Would you like to start, Sam.
Sam Michael: We had some of our parts on the car today. Just on Rubens's (Barrichello) car actually. They are all working fine and we have some more parts coming tomorrow.

Can you give us some indication what they are?
SM: We are running a diffuser today, a new sidepod and back part of the engine cover and then some mechanical parts which you can't really see. And tomorrow we will have a new front wing.

Nick, you are obviously limited to the amount of bits you have brought.
Nick Wirth: Yeah, we were planning to run our two updated monocoques which unfortunately got affected a little bit by the delay in freight coming back which meant we were only able to bring one of them today which Timo (Glock) is running. It has a completely new fuel system on it and various other bits and pieces, some of which are coming out tomorrow as well, so it is just early days for that. So far, so good.

He didn't seem to be very quick today. In fact, slower than Lucas di Grassi.
NW: Yes, we were running different fuel levels as we are sorting out the fuel system and bits and pieces, so we will see tomorrow.

Aldo?
Aldo Costa: We had a pretty intense programme today. We had several aerodynamic components to test, so we had modifications on the front wing, brake duct, diffuser and then we had our version of rear stalling wing.

How did that go? It was interesting you were very quick in a straight line this morning but not so quick this afternoon.
AC: Yeah, we were doing a different test on a different wing setting, with a different system, standard versus the new system, so we have to put altogether the picture this afternoon, understand the data and then decide for tomorrow.

Ross, you had quite a lot, I think. Longer wheelbases, different chassis, all sorts of things.
Ross Brawn: Well, the bodywork change looks fairly dramatic. It is an improvement of course. It is not a huge improvement. Most of the big improvements come from the wings and the underside of the car. But it is how we conceived the car at the beginning and we had a bit of work we still wanted to do before we introduced the car as you see it now, so we went conventional for the first four races. Now we have got the system we always planned. Like everyone there are modifications to the other key bits, wings, diffuser, brake ducts and we have changed the wheelbase in order to give us more range, more weight distribution, although this is a circuit where I don't think rearward weight distribution is so attractive but it will be something we will want to use in some of the future races.

Another question to you all. It has been talked about that KERS might be introduced next year or might be introduced with the new engine regulations in 2013. Can you just discuss that and whether you would like KERS next year, whether KERS is very important for Formula One, whether it is an integral part of the 2013 engine regulations, if you feel that. Sam, you obviously have got a vested interest in the team.
SM: I mean to answer your first question we generally at Williams have always been supportive of KERS and we see it as part of Formula One in the future. The exact timing of when it is introduced is something that is still being debated within FOTA and I think the idea was to have the final decision this weekend as everyone has got to get on and design their cars for 2011. But there are obviously different technologies out there and, as you said, we do have vested interests. We have battery technology and fly-wheel and I think that is a secondary or even third order of decision. The main thing is we just want to see a plan whether it is next year or later when it is going to be introduced. That is still going around for discussion at the moment for a final decision but we are fully supportive of it.

NW: Well, for us it represents quite a challenge. Obviously, we have not had the experience of packaging that and neither has our engine supplier. In principal, we absolutely support the principal of it and the principal of introducing hybrid technology to Formula One. But we entered Formula One under a different set of regulations which have actually come to pass this year and I think everyone has to bear in mind that we are supplying and building Formula One cars to Virgin Racing which are cheaper than a Bugatti Veyron, so for us to introduce that with this kind of cost limitation that we have is quite a challenge. We think all round it is probably the most appropriate to look at that for the 2013 technology when we can choose the appropriate storage medium and integrate that in the new engine regulations.

AC: As Williams and Renault we are supporting the introduction of KERS next year. On top of that ourselves and Renault in the last few months were also pushing for developing the KERS system furthermore to allow the system to have more performance as at the moment we think the system as it has been written in the rules is not performing a great deal. With the same system we think with a more revised system we can achieve from it much more and the application can be used also during a weekend or during a race for other purposes and for better integration of the KERS in the vehicle to reach the proper status of hybrid vehicle. At the moment it isn't as it is written, so we are proposing that but, unfortunately, there is not a lot of consensus at the moment. Another possibility is to use KERS for the sport to have a better show, so to write a sporting rule that allows the use of KERS for overtaking again is another good aspect, I think, for Formula One. We are keen to use it, we are keen to develop it, we are keen to give to KERS more and more importance in the next few years.

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