Competitive form shown by the AT&T Williams team this weekend went unrewarded at an incident filled Brazilian Grand Prix today as both Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima were forced into early retirements. Racing for fourth place, Nico suffered his first DNF of the 2009 season when his FW31 was paralysed by a suspected gearbox failure on lap 27. Kazuki was ousted from the race after an incident on lap 31 put him into the tyre barrier, but he fortunately suffered no injuries. Congratulations to Jenson Button and Brawn GP on their Championship victories.
Nico Rosberg:
I had a good start, making up one position off the line and then managing to stay away from the incidents ahead of me. I was lying in third, but then Kubica overtook me at the restart when the safety car went in. Fourth was still ok though because we had a strong strategy and competitive pace. It was therefore looking good until the gearbox problem. After a promising weekend, this result is a shame.
Kazuki Nakajima:
We were lucky to gain some places at the start and make progress up the field after all the incidents. It was quite difficult after the restart; I didn’t manage to hold position and I was left stuck behind the cars in front. We were having a good race until the accident, so I’m disappointed it ended this way.
Rod Nelson, Chief Operations Engineer:
Disappointing end to quite a promising weekend. We struggled slightly in the dry on Friday but recovered well for the wet qualifying session on Saturday. Despite the fact that we were running reasonably heavy downforce today, we were quite competitive in the race. Nico couldn’t keep Kubica behind him, but he was looking good for fourth place before what looks like a gearbox failure. Kazuki was also going well until an incident in the middle of the race forced him into retirement. Fortunately, Kazuki didn’t suffer any injuries from the accident.
Points: AT&T Williams 34.5 (6th), Nico Rosberg 34.5 (7th), Kazuki Nakajima -
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