Q. Can you describe the technical challenge provided by the new Buddh International Circuit?
Mark Gillan, Chief Operations Engineer, Williams F1: One of the biggest issues has been a logistical one; making sure that all our car parts arrived on time. Thankfully, we have an excellent coordination team and everything made it to the track on time.
With regards to the actual circuit running, the track was extremely dirty with a significant track evolution throughout each session. In turn, this then masked the tire degradation making it difficult to fully compare the soft and hard tire performances within a session, prior to the race.
Q. AT&T Williams did a lot of simulator work prior to the Indian GP. How much fine-tuning did the car require once the on-track action started?
MG: Our preparation was very good and we required very little unplanned setup tuning during the event.
Q. How would you describe the performance of the FW33 at Buddh International Circuit?
MG: We made a decent step forward in performance, especially in our long run pace, from Korea to India which was helped with a well correlated floor upgrade from wind tunnel to track.
Q. Let's talk tires. In hindsight, was Pirelli right to bring its hard and soft compounds to the race?
MG: I understand Pirelli's reasoning for bringing the hard tire and indeed both the hard and soft tires performed much better than we expected, in terms of tire wear and general performance. Rubens [Barrichello]'s long run in the race on the hard tire was consistent and reasonably quick.
Q. Pastor Maldonado had a disrupted opening day of practice. How much did that affect his progress for the remainder of the weekend?
MG: Any loss in track time on a new track will upset one's overall weekend preparation and, as a team, we are striving hard to eliminate such downtime. Saying that, Pastor did a good job in qualifying and his race pace, prior to his gearbox failure, was good.
Q. Rubens' lap times were pretty competitive toward the end of the race. How much encouragement does that give you?
MG: As mentioned we have made a step in the right direction with our floor upgrade and Rubens' pace was strong on both the hard and soft tires, despite having to pit early after breaking his front wing.
Q. Abu Dhabi comes next. Rubens qualified seventh there last year; do you think the FW33 has Q3 potential at the track this year?
MG: We need to ensure we have a trouble-free weekend and then it is possible that we can make it into Q3, although as Pastor will use a ninth engine in Abu Dhabi, due to damage incurred following the gearbox failure in India, he will therefore incur a subsequent 10-place grid penalty. Rubens will use a new eighth engine.