Buoyed by Williams-BMW’s pace at Silverstone, the team’s chief operations engineer, Sam Michael believes a correct tyre choice and strategy could be the keys to victory at Hockenheim.
Buoyed by Williams-BMW’s pace at Silverstone, a track that didn’t particularly favour the Grove-based team, chief operations engineer Sam Michael believes a correct tyre choice and strategy could be the keys to victory at Hockenheim.
Even though the team failed to continue its winning streak, Juan-Pablo Montoya finished second and Williams-BMW expects to carry its form over to the German Grand Prix this weekend.
“The FW25’s pace was the best we’ve seen with the car at Silverstone,” said Michael. “Hockenheim is dominated by slow- and medium-speed corners which will dictate the set-up options we select over the weekend.
“Traction and tyre selection will be important factors. The data from last year’s race demonstrates that tyre degradation can be a problem at Hockenheim, so making the correct choice with Michelin will be crucial,” he added.
However, Michael added that strategy and the efficiency of the pit crew would likely decide the outcome of the upcoming grand prix: “After seeing how much time the crew managed to gain our drivers in the pitlane during the safety car period at Silverstone, we are confident of another strong showing in Germany. We’ve also made several improvements to the FW25 – which will hopefully keep us at the front.
Montoya has leapt ahead of his team-mate, Ralf Schumacher, on the drivers’ championship table and the Colombian is keen to capitalise on this in Germany: “The gap to Michael Schumacher (14 points) is still substantial and I need to score consistently in every race to be able to challenge for the title.
“We have always been fairly competitive at Hockenheim,” Montoya said, “even when our car wasn’t as good as it is now, so I don’t see why we shouldn’t be confident in achieving a good result this year”.