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Singapore GP: Williams Martini fails to improve in FP3


By Andrew Hooper
September 16 2017

The final practice session for the 2017 Singapore GP would see the Williams Martin team fail to improve from their Friday times. Felipe Massa would finish in 15th and team-mate Lance Stroll 17th. The pace is simply not there for either driver as they continued to struggle. For Lance he would brush the wall quite hard with the left side of his car late in the session. Qualifying was looking like it would also be a very difficult session with it looking like very likely that neither driver would make it past the opening period.

 
 Williams Martini Singapore GP Saturday Practice
 
Massa
 

Team Summary:
After a difficult Friday practice the Williams Martini team was going into the final practice session looking for pace. Drivers running on a mix of soft and ultra soft tyres would complete their installation laps. The first time would come from Bottas with a 1m:45.222 with Lance second. Raikkonen was quickest with a 1m:44.271 but Vettel would go quicker with a 1m:43.237. After their first runs the Williams drivers were fourth and fifth but only five cars had set a time. Hamilton would go second with a 1m:44.230 to be 0.9 behind Vettel. Sainz was fourth as Vettel pitted after clipping the wall with his right rear. Raikkonen would move up to second with a 1m:44.176 as more drivers started to come out for their first runs.

Ocon was now fifth followed by Kvyat and Bottas now seventh. Perez would move up to second and Ocon now third followed by Raikkonen and Hamilton. Ricciardo would set a 1m:43.457 to move up to second with Perez now third. Verstappen would show his pace with a 1m:42.249 to move ahead of Vettel. Hulkenberg would move up to fourth with half the session remaining. The order was now Verstappen, Ricciardo, Vettel, Hulkenberg, Perez, Sainz, Ocon, Raikkonen, Hamilton, and Kvyat tenth. The session would be stoped when Ericsson was to crash leaving a large amount of debris out on the track. Ericsson was able to get back to the pits. At this time both Williams cars were well down in the order in sixteenth and seventeenth.

The session would restart with under twenty minutes remaining. Several drivers were out on quick laps including both Ferrari's and Mercedes cars. Vettel would set a 1m:41.919 to go quickest while Hamilton could only manage fifth with a 1m:42.952. Vandoorne was in sixth but this would become seventh as Alonso went fourth with a 1m:42.612. Raikkonen would move into sixth behind Bottas. Hamilton would improve with a 1m:42.425 to be third as both Williams cars came out. Hulkenberg was now fifth while at the front a short while later Verstappen would go quickest with a 1m:41.829. For Williams their second runs had seen their drivers in eleventh and seventeenth. But after other drivers had completed their runs they were thirteenth and eighteenth.

The top ten was Verstappen, Vettel, Alonso, Hamilton, Vandoorne, Ricciardo, Hulkenberg, Bottas, Raikkonen, and Perez tenth. Ricciardo had brushed the wall ruining his quickest run. he would return to the pits slowly. But Hamilton would put in a quick lap right near the end seeing him now third. With the end of the session Verstappen was fastest from Vettel, Hamilton, Alonso, Vandoorne, Ricciardo, Hulkenberg, Bottas, Raikkonen, and Perez tenth. The Williams drivers were fifteenth and seventeenth and based on this result qualifying was looking to be a very tough session with it looking like a real struggle for both drivers to get past the first period.

Felipe Massa:
Felipe would follow his team-mate out also on a set of new ultra soft tyres. Felipe would set a 1m:46.040 to be third. Felipe would drop to seventh the eighth. Felipe was one place ahead of his team by a full second. Felipe would set a 1m:45.203 but would remain ninth. He would drop to tenth as he continued his run on the ultra soft tyre. Felipe had dropped to thirteenth then sixteenth to be just ahead of his team-mate. Felipe had completed twelve laps on his run. Felipe would follow Lance out for his second run. Felipe would also set a better time and would improve to eleventh with a 1m:43.724. He would drop to fifteenth as the session came to a close and Felipe would pit.

Lance Stroll:
Lance would be first out for Williams with close to ten minutes of the session completed. He was on a new set of ultra soft tyres for his first run. Lance would continue his run setting a 1m:47.481 to be second. He would drop to fourth behind his team-mate. Lance continued to lap the circuit and was now sixth behind Kvyat. Despite setting a 1m:46.877 Lance was the slowest of the drivers who had set a time currently eighth. Lance would continue to find a few tenths setting a 1m:46.203 to currently be ninth. Lance would drop to twelfth even with a 1m:46.081. After a nine lap run Lance would pit currently fourteenth. He would quickly return still on the used ultra soft tyre. Lance would pit again currently seventeenth having completed eleven laps in his run. With ten minutes remaining Lance would be first back out for Williams for his second run. Lance was on a quicker lap and would finish with a 1m:44.597 but would remain only in seventeenth. But Lance was able to set a 1m:44.223 right near the end of the session to be seventeenth. Replays would show Lance brushing the barrier with the front and rear left wheels.

 
Stroll
 
Pos Driver Car Time Gap Laps
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Renault 1m41.829s - 12
2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m41.901s 0.072s 13
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m41.971s 0.142s 16
4 Fernando Alonso McLaren/Honda 1m42.383s 0.554s 11
5 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren/Honda 1m42.439s 0.610s 13
6 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull/Renault 1m42.517s 0.688s 11
7 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1m42.549s 0.720s 10
8 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1m42.592s 0.763s 16
9 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m42.708s 0.879s 16
10 Sergio Perez Force India/Mercedes 1m43.010s 1.181s 14
11 Esteban Ocon Force India/Mercedes 1m43.109s 1.280s 15
12 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso/Renault 1m43.356s 1.527s 17
13 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1m43.368s 1.539s 11
14 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso/Renault 1m43.574s 1.745s 17
15 Felipe Massa Williams/Mercedes 1m43.724s 1.895s 17
16 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1m44.041s 2.212s 16
17 Lance Stroll Williams/Mercedes 1m44.223s 2.394s 18
18 Romain Grosjean Haas/Ferrari 1m44.295s 2.466s 16
19 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber/Ferrari 1m45.760s 3.931s 15
20 Marcus Ericsson Sauber/Ferrari 1m46.339s 4.510s 7
 
Stroll
 

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Singapore GP: Williams Martini fails to improve in FP3
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