Q&A: Mark Gillan, Williams

Williams' chief operations en🎶gineer Mark Gillan looks back at the team's performance at the F1 2012 British Grand Pr🌟ix, where Bruno Senna finished ninth and Pastor Maldonado was involved in more controversy...
Q:
Mark, how would you sum up the perform💜ance of the Williams-Renault FW34 at Silverstone?
Mark Gillan:
In general we were reasonably happy with the pace of th🤡e car and both drivers drove well in qualifying. We had good race starts and Bruno did a very good job finishing in ninth, despite a spin during the first stint. Pastor was looking good for some decent points but unfortunately lost the car on braking on lap 12 and hit Perez, which ultimat✨ely hindered Pastor's race.
Q:
With so little dry running during practi💮ce and qualifying, did you have any unforeseen 🅘set-up issues during the race?
Mark Gillan:
No, the race went pretty much to plan. We did have to adjust our set-up on the Friday evening as we experienced too much aqua-pla♛ning with both drivers.
Q:
Were you able to get a similar performance out🔜 of the hard and soft-compound tyres as in B🙈arcelona?
Mark Gillan:
The conditions were clearly quite diff🍌erent to those experienced in Barcelona, but the tyres performed well and we had no surprising tyre characteristics.
Q:
Bruno drove a strong race to ninth place. What can the team do to helജp him improve his one-lap🍸 pace during qualifying?
Mark Gillan:
Bruno had a very good race and was particularly strꦰong both at the start and in the last part of the race when he was fighting hard for the ninth place. We continue to work with Bruno in the simulator and with the race programme to help him optimise his qualifying pace and I think that he can take a lot of positives from Silverstone into Hockenheim. He was unlucky not to progress into the final qualifying session when his hot timed lap waꦍs severely compromised by the yellow flag.
Q:
Sergio Perez was very outspoken about his collision w꧋ith Pastor on lap 12. What was your take on the crash?
Mark Gillan:
The stewards made their deciཧsion and Pastor received a reprimand and a fine which we have accepted.
Q:
The team will test at Silverstone prior to the next race. What are your objectives for the two-day session🐓?
Mark Gillan:
The Silverstone test is a tw🐼o day youn🧔g driver test, with Thursday being held on the Grand-Prix circuit and the Friday on the International circuit, which for those who do not know is effectively the southern bottom half of the Grand Prix circuit. Williams is very fortunate to have a young test driver with the talent and promise that Valtteri has and basically we want to put him through his paces over the two day event.
Q:
The German Grand Prix comes next, in two weeks time.♒ Do you exp🔯ect the FW34 to be competitive at Hockenheim?
Mark Gillan:
Yes, I do expect us to be competitive and we will be pushing to get both cars home⛎ in the points.