Nico Rosberg has praised the progress of his Williams team following the introduction of new aero components at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Rosberg made good use of the improvements to move to the top of the times in second practice at the Barcelona circuit. Teammate Kazuki Nakajima was second quickest.
The German driver reckons Williams has gained at least a few tenths a lap thanks to the updates.
"Today was our first run with the new aero components on the car and they all seemed to work well," said Rosberg. "They're giving us a few tenths extra per lap so we've made definite progress. Everyone has brought new developments here, though, so we will see how things look in qualifying. We also ran some tire comparisons today. It's not obvious which direction will be the right one, so strategy is going to be very important and will have a major impact on the race."
Nakajima was also pleased with the new components, despite having problems with his tires.
"We had a pretty good day and it seems that all the updates are working well," he said. "I found it quite difficult to get enough grip with the hard tire, the soft one definitely has the advantage for me. We now need to focus our attention on qualifying well tomorrow."