AT&T Williams enjoyed their first double points-paying race of the season today in front of a home crowd at the British Grand Prix. Rubens Barrichello’s competitive form continued at Silverstone, where he took two places off the line to move into sixth place before gaining a further position in the second half of the race. Rubens maintained position to take fifth at the chequered flag, securing a second consecutive top five result for the team.

Barrichello said: “It was a good race today. It started well on the opening lap and I managed to claim some positions without too much trouble. Around the stops and the Safety Car, we gained a position from Alonso and lost one to Jenson, but overall we were in a safe position to come home in fifth. It is a great effort from the team to achieve a top five finish two races in a row – not so much in absolute results, but the direction of improvement. The team is still not quite where it belongs, but we are quite happy with our performance today. We will continue to think and work positively and continue our forward progress.”

A decisive strategy from the pitwall combined with a mature race drive saw Nico Hulkenberg match his best result of the season to date and conclude his first outing at Silverstone in 10th place.

“All in all that was a positive race,” Hulkenberg reflected. “It’s a shame I lost places at the start though and going down the Hangar Straight Petrov just managed to overtake me round the outside. That, combined with not being able to get past Michael at the end, meant tenth for me today. A long first stint on the option tyre was the right strategy call and a good effort by the team.”

Williams’ Technical Director Sam Michael said it was a good result, with the team making good progress: “Both drivers in the points today is another good result for the team. Rubens had a great first lap and embedded himself into a points-paying position. Nico did an excellent job in his first stint, following a different strategy and staying out on his set of options for as long as possible. All of the aero upgrades worked well on both cars, which shows the factory is making good progress. We now need to maintain that progress.”

Williams will be pleased after a very progressive weekend and will hope to use this to kick start their season.