Team Summary:
With the start of the opening Friday practice session there would be a mix
of tyres been used with the majority either using the ultra soft or super
soft. Both Williams drivers would go out on the soft tyre with the last cars
to come out been the Mercedes. Bottas would set the first time with a
1m:48.770 followed by Hamilton, with both on the super soft tyre. Bottas
would improve with a 1m:46.873 with both drivers saying that it was damp in
places after earlier rain. Vandoorne was now second followed by Hamilton and
Gelael. Sean Gelael was taking over Sainz's car for this session. The times
would continue to fall with Bottas now setting a 1m:46.334. He would drop
into the 1m:45s with a 1m:45.307. Hamilton was second followed now by Perez,
Vandoorne, Palmer and Hulkenberg.
The track was now very busy as Hulkenberg went second. Times continued to
fall as Hamilton went fastest with a 1m:44.236 followed by Bottas and Perez.
Then the Red Bull's would make an appearance with Ricciardo going third and
Verstappen fourth. Vettel's first lap would see him sixth. Verstappen would
go quickest with a 1m:44.058 running on the ultra soft tyres. Hamilton was
second followed by Ricciardo, Vettel, Bottas, Perez, Kvyat, Alonso, and
Felipe. Ricciardo would join his team-mate at the front going quickest with
a 1m:43.664 also on the ultra soft tyre. But Verstappen would swap places
again going quickest with a 1m:43.278. After their first runs the Williams
drivers were eleventh and fifteenth.
With fifty minutes remaining Bottas was back out on the ultra soft tyre. He
would set a 1m:43.434 to be just behind Verstappen in second. The only other
car on the track was Hamilton, also on the ultra soft tyre. Hamilton would
set a 1m:42.904 to be quickest. under thirty five minutes remaining and the
track was again busy. The top three was now Verstappen quickest with a
1m:42.805 followed by Hamilton, Bottas, Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Alonso,
Hulkenberg, and Vettel eighth. Verstappen would improve with a 1m:42.610 but
Ricciardo would go quicker with a 1m:42.489. Vettel was able to go second
with a 1m:42.698.
As the session started to drew to a close the drivers were out on longer
runs on the ultra soft tyres. Under five minutes remaining and the order was
Ricciardo followed by Vettel, Verstappen, Hamilton, Perez, Bottas,
Raikkonen, Alonso, Hulkenberg and Kvyat tenth. The Williams drivers were in
fourteenth and seventeenth. A session of two halves for Williams with a
productive one from Felipe but Lance was hampered by the issue with his car.
Felipe Massa:
Felipe would be first out for Williams running on the soft tyre.
Felipe would pit after a single lap. Felipe would also head out on the ultra soft tyre.
Felipe was running some updates on his car that were not on Lance's.
Felipe would set a 1m:47.447 to be fourth but he would drop to sixth.
Felipe's engineer would say to him: "OK Felipe, that's good, let's take a slow lap now as we have an important switch change." Felipe would drop to ninth but he would improve with a 1m:46.211 to be seventh dropping to ninth. He would continue to lap the circuit currently twelfth. A 1m:45.906 would see Felipe eleventh. Felipe would pit after a nine lap run. With just under forty minutes remaining and Felipe would return running on a new set of ultra soft tyres.
Felipe would set a 1m:45.382 to be eighth. He would drop to eleventh.
A 1m:45.084 and Felipe was now in thirteenth. Felipe would pit after a nine lap run dropping to fourteenth.
He would return for a run on the used ultra soft tyres.
Lance Stroll:
Lance would follow his team-mate out also on the soft tyre. Lance would also
pit after a single installation lap. Lance would be the first Williams to
return for his first timed run on the track. He was on the ultra soft tyre.
His first lap was a 1m:53.037 followed by a 1m:51.542 as he started to learn
the Singapore circuit. Lance would set a 1m:48.591 to be fourteenth. A
1m:47.190 from Lance would see him fourteenth as he continued to improve.
But Lance would slow coming on the radio saying that he had an engine
problem. He would get back to the pit lane returning to his garage. After
his first run Lance was 1.2 seconds off his team-mates times. With his
team-mate out on the track Lance was still in his pit as the team worked on
his issue. Lance had dropped to seventeenth and still in his pit. His
mechanics were working on his car including both front brakes and the
gearbox. He would not get back out as the session ended. |