Cosworth celebrates memorable pole position with Williams

Cosworth is celebrating a memorable pole position with the AT&T Williams team following Nico Hülkenberg’s impressive performance in qualifying for tomorrow’s Brazilian Grand Prix at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace, Interlagos.

This result marks the first pole position performance for the 2.4 litre V8 Cosworth CA2010 engine since Cosworth’s return to Formula One this season after a three year absence as an engine supplier. Hülkenberg’s pole position was supported by a strong run to sixth position by team mate Rubens Barrichello.

This is the seventh occasion in the last ten Grands Prix that both Williams Cosworth FW32 cars have graduated into the top ten, and further evidence of the growing competitiveness of the package. The Cosworth engines, designed, developed and manufactured at the company’s headquarters in Northampton, UK, have enjoyed a successful first season under current regulations, and to date have proven to be not only high performing but the most reliable out of the four makes of engine currently used in Formula One.

“We would like to congratulate Nico, Rubens and the entire AT&T Williams team on their performance today, and wish them success in tomorrow’s Brazilian Grand Prix,” said Mark Gallagher, General Manager of Cosworth’s Formula One Business Unit. “It’s the overall package that achieves success, and we know only too well the extraordinary amount of effort that the Williams team and drivers have put into returning the front of the grid. For Cosworth, we too can celebrate this evening, because everyone involved in the intense work in Northampton can share in the success of today’s milestone. The Cosworth Track Support Group has worked extremely hard all season, optimising the performance of our CA2010 engine in its first season under the demanding rules we have faced for the first time. In supplying four teams this season we have learned a great deal, and made impressive progress. All our staff supporting AT&T Williams, Virgin Racing, HRT and Lotus Racing have contributed to the overall goal of demonstrating Cosworth’s capability.”

Today’s pole position provides Cosworth with statistics that have a distinctly Brazilian flavour; Cosworth’s last pole position, under Ford ownership, came at the French Grand Prix in 1999 when Rubens Barrichello took pole honours in his Stewart. Cosworth’s last Grand Prix victory came in the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix, won by Giancarlo Fisichella in a Jordan, while the late Ayrton Senna’s last pole position during his celebrated career at McLaren was achieved in a Cosworth powered car on exactly this date in 1993, and his victory the following afternoon was to be the last of his career. To complete the statistical line up, the last time a Williams-Cosworth qualified on pole position was when reigning 1982 World Champion Keke Rosberg qualified his Williams Cosworth FW08C on pole position in 1983 at the Brazilian Grand Prix, some four years before Nico Hülkenberg was even born.