2017 Williams Martini Racing Team - Mercedes

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LookBackTime
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Joined: 19 Feb 2013, 20:33

Re: 2017 Williams Martini Racing Team - Mercedes

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2017 Australia - Drivers Press Conference - Part 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2xfWHONOz0

From Massa: "many people have arrived and many will arrive in the future!"
Sounds good!

LookBackTime
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Re: 2017 Williams Martini Racing Team - Mercedes

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F1 - Massa confirms Williams ’competitive’
"We are not the best team, but..."


23 March 2017 - 09h18, by GMM
Felipe Massa has confirmed the paddock perception that Williams looks set to be ’best of the rest’ behind F1’s top three teams early in 2017.

Many observers believe that Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull are clearly leading the field, with a gap then to the well-known British team Williams.

Brazilian driver Massa confirms: "I think testing for us was good.

"In fact after 2016 and how it went for Williams, I had a big concern about how it will be in 2017 especially with the big change in regulations," he told Globo.

"So I was not 100 per cent calm, especially because I decided last September that I would stop racing and so I was not very interested about how the car would be this year.

"I think Barcelona helped me to get an idea that we definitely have a competitive car," said Massa. "We are not the best team, but we can fight to be the third best team in the championship and fight for podiums."

http://motorsport.nextgen-auto.com/Mass ... 14880.html

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Re: 2017 Williams Martini Racing Team - Mercedes

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Williams reforms key to Massa return

http://www.pitpass.com/58592/Williams-r ... ssa-return

Felipe Massa is pushing Williams for changes heading into the new season, having identified a number of areas, as part of the deal that sees him return to the sport after announcing his retirement last year.
The veteran Brazilian, who made his Formula 1 debut in 2002 for Sauber, received a last-minute call up when it became clear Williams was set to lose Valtteri Bottas. With rookie Lance Stroll already signed, the team needed an experienced head, with Massa happy to return, with a few provisos.
During discussions with Claire Williams over a possible return, Massa identified a number of areas within the team that needed to be improved. For the 35-year-old, who claims he was comfortable with his decision to retire and was looking forward to getting "fat", having greater input within the team was important.
His requests were well received, he claims, and the team is now working to turn them into a reality.
"Everything that I asked, that needed to be different, especially on the technical side, so many different things that didn't work in the proper way need to be better and everything she said and everything Williams is doing I believe is correct," said the Brazilian.
"So many new people arrived and are still arriving, so many things that we are working hard to make work in a better way.

"To be racing for a team that I believe is professional and important, I feel important as well.
"Definitely we have some other areas that we need to improve," he admitted. "This are the points we need to make better, improving, as quick as we can, because it means results, it means performance, it means everything."
One key new addition is the arrival of Paddy Lowe, who has joined the team from Mercedes, someone Massa is hoping can add his winning experience to strengthen Williams.
"He is a very important engineer, manager, that he can help to improve things in the right way," said Massa. "Bringing some good ideas from other areas that we were not so strong, as a team like Mercedes where he won the last three years the championship - they are really strong.
"Not only him," he added, "but so many people, engineers, people that are working in different areas.
"That is something we are working very hard on, so he has just arrived, but I'm sure he understands things pretty quick.
"I was talking already with Paddy and I'm sure with all the important and very good engineers we have I believe and I hope we can do a very good job."



LookBackTime
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Re: 2017 Williams Martini Racing Team - Mercedes

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AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX PRACTICE
24 MAR 2017

FP1
Weather: Dry and warm
Air & Track Temperatures: 21-23°C / 27-36°C
F Massa, FW40-03, Mercedes-AMG F1 M08 EQ Power+, 1:26.142 (7th)
L Stroll, FW40-02, Mercedes-AMG F1 M08 EQ Power+, 1:26.734 (13th)
Quickest time: L Hamilton, 1:24.220

FP2
Weather: Dry and warm
Air & Track Temperatures: 22-23°C / 28-32°C
F Massa, FW40-03, Mercedes-AMG F1 M08 EQ Power+, 1:26.331 (14th)
L Stroll, FW40-02, Mercedes-AMG F1 M08 EQ Power+, 1:26.525 (16th)
Quickest time: L. Hamilton, 1:23.620

Paddy Lowe, Chief Technical Officer: It was a day of two halves! We had a great session this morning, the first practice session of Lance’s Formula One career. He did a great job of taking it step-by-step, doing some good laps whilst getting familiar with a circuit he has never driven on before. He made steady progress throughout the session. On Felipe’s side of the garage, there was also some good running on both high and low fuel, and different tyres with encouraging pace. In FP2, unfortunately it wasn’t so good on Felipe’s side. We had an electrical problem which stopped the car on the circuit and brought his session to an end very early. We know the issue so it will be resolved easily overnight. He did get one run on the supersoft tyres before stopping, but unfortunately we missed out on the long runs. Meanwhile, Lance had another good session and we got good data from him on high fuel and we’ll be working with all of that information overnight.

Felipe Massa: It’s not really the great day we were expecting and unfortunately I couldn’t finish the second session; I only did six laps. The track was still a little bit dirty and then suddenly we had this issue in the car. I went into neutral and couldn’t select any gears, which meant that I lost the opportunity to try the ultrasoft tyres and do any long runs. It’s a shame that we did thousands of kilometres in Barcelona and then had this issue here, but I don’t think it’s a serious thing, which is positive. We need to concentrate 100% tomorrow and I really hope things can go the right way.

Lance Stroll: For me it was a good day. I did some laps and was just learning the track. It feels good to just finally break the ice and do some driving, especially as it has been quite a long build-up as I got here early to acclimatise. It is not a track I have been to before, so I can’t just go out and push to the limit. I have to build up to it, which is what I was doing today, and still leaving a bit of a margin. There is not a lot of room for error on this track, but it is fun and so far I have really enjoyed driving it. FP2 was quite a scruffy session for me. The first run was alright, but then on the second one it was a shame as there was a yellow flag so I had to abort the lap, which meant we missed out on that one lap on the ultrasofts we wanted. However, today were just the first practice sessions. I think I can still improve as I am learning a lot, and there is still a lot to understand.




Sevach
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Joined: 07 Jun 2012, 17:00

Re: 2017 Williams Martini Racing Team - Mercedes

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It doesn't look good honestly, Lance is slow and tentative out on track.

To make matters worst Massa has had a lot of problems this weekend, he was complaing about the brakes in FP3.

edu2703
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Joined: 03 Jun 2015, 23:47
Location: Brazil

Re: 2017 Williams Martini Racing Team - Mercedes

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Sevach wrote:
25 Mar 2017, 06:24
It doesn't look good honestly, Lance is slow and tentative out on track.

To make matters worst Massa has had a lot of problems this weekend, he was complaing about the brakes in FP3.
Massa did not mention it was the brakes. If he had any problems, it seems that the team solved them, since he had returned to the track with the ultrasoft tires ready to made a qualify simulation.

Sevach
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Joined: 07 Jun 2012, 17:00

Re: 2017 Williams Martini Racing Team - Mercedes

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edu2703 wrote:
25 Mar 2017, 06:46

Massa did not mention it was the brakes. If he had any problems, it seems that the team solved them, since he had returned to the track with the ultrasoft tires ready to made a qualify simulation.
Seemed like he thought the brakes weren't working right.
Talked about how the had to brake very early, and talked about how it feels something is wrong with the car, so not just a setup issue.

Anyways better now then in qualy, but it has been a patchy weekend for Felipe.


Anyways... https://twitter.com/NobleF1/status/845496538889568257

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