Susie Wolff helps Williams improve pitstops

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Susie Wolff had her first real test in a Formula One car by running today's young driver test for Williams F1. So far she had only undertaken some straight line tests for Williams in the same FW35.

Xevi Pujolar, Chief Engineer: Susie did a great job for us today. We did some aero tests this morning while she familiarised herself with the car and then we moved onto some performance and development work with her. In the afternoon we combined some general running with live pitstop practice, which is an area we are keen to improve ahead of the next race. We made some good progress and Susie was good at stopping on the mark every time. Overall we have had a successful test, gathering lots of data to take back to the wind tunnel and have some experience to know what to expect from the tyres in Budapest.

Susie Wolff: It was fantastic today. The team did a great job getting me through the day, talking me through everything step by step. In hindsight it would have been good to run the new tyres later in the day after I’d had more time in the car as I don’t think I got the best out of the medium tyres. Physically it wasn’t easy, but it was what I was expecting. I was well prepared so it was completely manageable. My only problem was my seat as I was moving around a little. Doing the pitstops this afternoon was also really beneficial as there is a lot to think about coming into the stops. It was a fantastic experience.

Chassis / engine: FW35-04 / RS27-5329/3
Objectives: Aero evaluations and pitstop practice