Second? Who's first then? And where's Macca?

His management has taken a step back and tempered expectations...it doesn't seem as certain...but with the little amount of testing allowed you hardly come in action being a second testdriver anyway.

when i say 'second team', i mean many fans who support other teams also have a soft spot for williams and are happy for them to do well if their preferred team isn't in the running.

i believe mr mccartney is in court, adding the final touches to his divorce settlement ;)

A pic of Williams' nose (with the 'ear' like shaped fins on the side) and the frontwing (comprising of three elements and a bridge wing à la McLaren)...

The first design of the 2009 car is already in the windtunnel. Michael: ''At some stage we come to the point in which we have to concentrate more on 2009 instead of the current season. But making that decision won't be easy because we're still in the middle of the fight with the midfield teams.''

''Last year our development rate was pretty high and the updates were often tight-scheduled. Whether that will continue this year will largely depend on where we put our priorities compared to the others.''

Michael cannot imagine completely giving up on the this year's car in case some places start to get out of reach: ''For a racing team it isn't easy to give up on the work of the current car and solemly care about the future. That's not in our nature.''

On Thursday afternoon it was 38 C. Michael: ''The hotter it is, the better it is for our car.''

Air or track temp?

Air !

It was that or very close to it air temp. Expect it to stay the same the entire weekend with maybe 15% chance of a thunderstorm late in the weekend (says my high tech finger in the air technique).

Wow, it is really bloody hot Down Under at the moment!

Yeah, but I wish they could blow it over the Tasman, it has been a little cooler than usual here in Auckland!!!

Nakajima was so slow in today's sessions. Another midfield year for Williams but at least replace Naka with someone who can keep Nico honest!

It seems the team had terrible luck during practice. It's Sods Law that they can run so far and reliably in testing, only to experience problems at the first race weekend! Still, if Rosberg was eighth quickest with no differential, it means there should be the potential to do well tomorrow and Sunday, I hope.

They had gearbox troubles and did hardly any laps, give the guy a chance.

Nakajima did 33 laps in P2. Only Vettel completed more laps.

Which still puts him about 20-30 laps behind most of the rest of the field - and on a track he's never driven before, i.e. you can knock off another 10-20 laps spent getting to learn the circuit properly. It's unrealistic to expect Nakajima to challenge Rosberg when his practice sessions have been so compromised.

So Rosberg had a gearbox problem this morning. Nakajima stayed in the pitbox having the same problem. Both gearboxes were changed in between the practice sessions. Head: ''We know what the problem is, and we believe to have solved it.'' In FP2 Rosberg's dfferential wasn't working well because of the hastily repairment to his car, this prevented him and the team to work on the basic set-up which should already had happened in the morning session. Not a great day for the team.



The FW30 is very gentle on the tyres and over the wintertime the drivers even had some problems getting heat in the tyres over one lap. Therefore Williams is probably one of the few being happy with the very hot weather, also knowing more rubber will be laid down over the course of the weekend.

I wish we are not again with a speady but unreliable car

Come on guys, less of the doom and gloom. Lets at least get the season started. I would have thought that two of pre-requisits for being a Williams fan is patience and faith (all in big quantities), having supported this team since I was 10 years old, I have seen my share of ups and downs.

I much rather see a speedy Nico with an unhealthy car than the other way around. But then again, I would much rather be a healthy millionare than a poor sicko. If that ever made sense

no it doesnt....

go williams, that was a chaotic FP3....

Podium to start 2008

THE WAIT IS OVER!! BACK ON TOP (3)
CONGRATS TO ALL OF US WILLIAMS FANS!
THANKS NICO, KAZ, & WILLIAMS!

yeah yeah yeah - 8 points to start off the season

Fantastic!
Flawless race by Rosberg!

Hell yeah!!

YES!

Second podium for Williams in 48 races and the first for Nico! This year looks like a promising year for Williams.

Congrats to Nico and Williams! If only they could fight for podiums this year without having to capitalise on the other cars dropping out.

I hope you're not suggesting that Nico's podium today was an effect of other drivers misfortune. Because that is massively untrue. Sure, maybe Kovalainen and even Kubica would have beat him if circumstances were different, but Williams have been quick all winter and it's no surprise that Nico went onto the podium today at all.

Great points haul for Williams and likely more than they were expecting.

I agree though, that on pure speed, Williams would not have picked up nearly as many points, but that shows just what a good job the team and Nico in particular did.

I don't expect similar levels of points throughout the season though, unless Melbourne has really skewed how fast the teams appear.

As I said, it was a result of other cars dropping out. Whether that was from reliability issues or boneheaded driving. Realistically the list of drivers who shoulda/coulda been in front are:

Lewis
Heikki
Kimi
Felipe
Nick
Robert
Mark
David
Fernando

With the last couple being couldas.

without bonehead drivers and reliability issues this wouldn't be F1. In the race the only ones who "should" have been i front of him was Lewis and Heikki. In fact going by your rationale you can say that Rosberg coulda been in front of Heidfeld if not for that slightly botched stop... suggesting that he would have been behind Mark/David and Fernando is laughable...

Laugh it up then. I'm not taking anything away from the kid, I genuinely like him and I have been a Williams fan since my old man got a pit pass for us in Adelaide when I was 6 years old (I still have a pic of myself in a FW12, signed on the back by Head). I just would like to see them on podiums other than by default which is the only way they've scored them for the last 4 years.

I think Kamix's point is fair in this case, but I think we all agree it is nice to see.

9 points now!

Just need Hamilton to be found to have been cooling his fuel and they will be leading the championship

Just a joke left over from last year I found lying around unused ;)

Regards

Andy

Whether Nico would be behind the Red Bulls and Renaults is a difficult question to answer, and to do that we need to watch some more races. I'm sure that on some of the circuits and under some of the circumstances the above-mentioned teams could out-do Frank and Patrick. Melbourne, as we know, is not representative, as it's different from most of the tracks that are on the calendar. Plus the heat. Such temperatures can be expected in bahrain and malaysia, while in cooler conditions Williams might be (hopefully not) less competitive than today.

And the Nakajima factor. If he goes on like this, he'll be just crashing cars and collecting penalties. Personally, I think that he was signed way too early. even though he has some speed, another year in GP2 would certainly be more useful. frank and patrick must be in dire need of Toyota, otherwise why wouldn't they put Kozuke in one of their cars, when 20 years back they did not feel so enthusiastic about his father.

Kamix is right, not all thse listed will be in front of Nico every race but some will. It's important to note because as reliability improves and drivers make less errors, the position in the pecking order is important.

As I said a few months back, the car Nico is driving seems quite fast, the other one is slower for some reason.

I see the logic on Toyota's side to put Kazuki in F1 this year - they know he's not ready to be a star yet, but if there's a seat available and they're willing to spend as much money as needed, he will learn more about F1 in F1 than in GP2.

However, a couple more races like this and I think it could start affecting his confidence pretty badly. Time will tell whether it was the right choice or not.

No doubt the result was slightly fortuitous, but Nico drove very well and his pace was strong all race.

Surely there are a couple more cars likely to be in front of them in the future, but this nice points haul sets Williams up *very* nicely in what looks to be a pretty tight battle among a number of teams for 4th in the WCC.

Save for Mac, Ferrari & Ranault...who hasn't these last 4 years.
Please quit minimizing reality.
Life isn't a model that you can do what-ifs scenarios with where you control your variables.

I hate when ppl come on here & tells me some1 is better because of this would have happen or that didn't happen.
Well guess what?
BS walks & results pay the points.

"By default"? What exact does that mean?

Williams have gained their recent podiums by dint of doing the best job on the days when Ferrari+McLaren+Renault (& their respective drivers) have been crap under the maximum "to finish first, first you must finish".

Of course, we'd all like Williams to start showing outright speed week in week out...

I am genuinely pleased for Nico, Williams and Sir Frank, a great start to the year

Great haul of points from a hugely unpredictable race, well done team!

Second place might have been Rosberg's if it wasn't for the lollipopman (rightfully) letting him wait for another driver to pass by during the second pitstop to avoid a collision. Williams and BMW Sauber seem very close. The F1.08 appears to be a bit better in qualifying but the FW28 is clearly more gentle on the tyres over a race distance.

Michael: ''Our drivers paid attention to the tyres very well. The car was so reliable that both of them were able to lap the circuit really rough. And that's what they did. McLaren and Ferrari are faster than us, but they're not as dominant that the gap couldn't be closed.''

Rosberg: ''Aerodynamically the team has done a really good job over the winter time. But more could and will come from the mechanical side.'' Michael is calm: ''That's exactly our development plan for this year. We'll gradually push for improvements, that wil be introduced systematically.''

Head: ''In Malaysia a lot comes down to the aerodynamics. And when we're able to prepare ourselves soundly from the start there, then I hope we'll cut a good figure once more. Due to the problems on Friday we've lost a lot of time to prepare the cars. We've shot ourselves in the foot. We looked good in the race nevertheless. But I don't know if that means that we've reached the maximum potential of our car with our theoratical preperartion or whether we haven't optimally set-up the car yet. McLaren and Ferrari are ahead of us in any case. But we're pretty close to BMW Sauber.''

Heidfeld and Rosberg didn't make their second pitstops on the same lap as Rosberg plus the Williams garage was farther back than BMW.

I think you're right, he must have been waiting for another driver to pass.

Didn't a Williams and BMW Sauber driver pit at the same time at some stage (Nakajima and Kubica ?!)...

It was the first stop that NH & NR were together & NH beat NR out by a split second.

The first six are fair, the others not so. RBR have never finished ahead of Williams in the final standings as far as I remember (well maybe in that dire year they did). But clearly they had the pace on Renault, meaning they've jumped at least one team.

They would seem then to be the fourth best team in F1. Welcome back to the big four SFW. Hooray! and well done!


On Nakajima - what possibility a swap with Sato? Who I thought did splendidly, all things considered.

After the race, I thought it significant how solid and reliable Williams seemed, in the midst of a chaotic race. They have made another small but important step forward. Regular podiums for Nico this season?

A podium for Nico Rosberg and a sixth place finish for team-mate Kazuki Nakajima saw the AT&T Williams team off to a double points start to their 2008 campaign. In an incident-filled race with three safety car periods and only seven cars making it home, Rosberg drove a clean, fast and confident race at the head of the field to his first Formula One podium finish in third place. Team-mate Kazuki Nakajma demonstrated calm and maturity to fight his way to some additional points despite being in the thick of the action further down the field. The team heads to Malaysia for next weekend's race in second place in the Championship standings with nine points. Unfortunately Kazuki will take a ten place penalty on the grid for the next GP for an incident during the last safety car period.

Nico Rosberg:
I am really, really happy and I have to say that being on the podium in Formula One is a really great feeling. It's been a while since I have been here and its great for the whole team as they have been working hard over the winter, they have done a good job and made some real progress. I gave everything I had today, but it was a tough race on a street circuit in the heat which didn't make it easy. The team deserves my thanks for this great result and it really encourages me to feel that I can grow with Williams. I also want to thank my father for everything he has done to help me to get to this position. We have a solid race car and some good developments coming, but we don't want to get too excited because it's early days yet.

Nazuki Nakajima:
To get to the end today was great, great to finish and great to get some points. It was really tough out there today physically, but on top of that there was so much going on. At the start, a car spun in front of me, turned side on and damaged my nose. Then with the various safety car periods, the team did a great job to swap my strategy to a one stop that put me in the points. Towards the end of the race, I had another incident when all the cars backed up into each other and I damaged my nose again. But it was good to be able to demonstrate my physical fitness and my consistency and I'm looking forward to Sepang which is a circuit I know better.

Sam Michael, Technical Director:
It's a fantastic start to the season, we knew we had the potential in the car but didn't realise it because of the reliability problems we had in practice, but that all came out in the race. Nico kept his head down through lots of difficult situations, he had good strong car pace throughout the race and congratulations to him for his first podium. Kazuki did well too despite being involved in two incidents. Both cars had solid reliability throughout the race and it's great to go away with a haul of points from the first Grand Prix. After tonight we will look forward to Malaysia for better qualifying and build on our second place in the championship.

Hi guys, what race for Williams and Nico, I hope that we can do another podium this season.