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Abu Dhabi GP: Encouraging FP1 for Williams Martini


By Andrew Hooper
November 24 2017

The opening Friday practice session for the 2017 Abu Dhabi GP would see the Williams Martini team finish in 9th and 13th. Felipe Massa would lead his team-mate Lance Stroll in the times in what was a productive session for the Williams team as they worked through their programme for the session. Both drivers would set their tiumes on the ultra soft tyre.

 
 Williams Martini Abu Dhabi GP Friday 1st Practice
 
Massa
 

Team Summary:
The opening Friday practice session for the 2017 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix would see a mix of tyres been used with soft, super soft and ultra soft all been used. The initial quickest time was from Hamilton with a 1m:41.664. Bottas was second with only the Mercedes cars out on the track with Stroll from Williams moving into third. More drivers started to come out including Alonso, Sainz, Perez, and Russell in the Force India. Ricciardo would move into second and Felipe for Williams now third. But Ricciardo would go quickest with a 1m:40.968 but Raikkonen would set a 1m:40.638 to move ahead. He was now followed by Ricciardo, Hamilton, Felipe, Verstappen. Hulkenberg and Bottas now seventh. The quickest times were been set on the ultra soft tyre but of the top three Hamilton was still on the soft tyre and had improved with a 1m:41.135 to be 0.497 behind Raikkonen.

On the ultra soft tyre Vettel would go sixth while for Williams Lance had dropped to eleventh. Perez would move into fourth running on the ultra soft tyre seeing Felipe fifth. Vettel would move up to second with a 1m:40.698 while Raikkonen had improved with a 1m:39.841. But Verstappen would go second with a 1m:40514 but Vettel would move ahead and back into second with a 1m:40.192. Verstappen's time was set on the super soft tyre. Both Hamilton and Bottas would return to the track now running on the ultra soft tyre. Both would move ahead of Raikkonen with Hamilton going quickest with a 1m:39.126 and Bottas second with a 1m:39.741. After their first runs the Williams drivers were tenth and seventeenth.

Verstappen on his ultra soft tyre run would move into second with a 1m:39.154. Team-mate Ricciardo was down in eighth followed by Grosjean and Vandoorne. Half an hour remaining in the session and the Williams drivers were now seventh and eighteenth. The top ten was Hamilton from Verstappen, Bottas, Raikkonen, Vettel, Perez, Felipe, Ricciardo, Grosjean and Vandoorne. Vandoorne would improve to be seventh. Alonso was now tenth but would improve to be sixth. Only the Renaults had not used the ultra soft tyre remaining on the super soft tyres. Vettel would move into fourth with a 1m:39.757 followed by Raikkonen. His next lap would see Vettel set a 1m:39.006 to be quickest.

After their second runs the Williams drivers were in ninth and thirteenth. They would remain in these positions with the end of the session. The top ten would be Vettel remaining quickest followed by Hamilton, Verstappen, Raikkonen, Bottas, Perez, Alonso, Vandoorne, Felipe, and Ricciardo tenth. It was an uneventful session for the Williams team as they worked through their programme for the session. Lance was 0.8 off his team0mates team so hopefully the second session will see him close this gap.

Felipe Massa:
Felipe would be first out for Williams running on the ultra soft tyre. Felipe's first timed lap was a 1m:42.042 to be third behind Ricciardo. Felipe would improve with a 1m:41.723 to remain in fourth. He would drop to fifth behind Perez. Felipe was running with a revised colour scheme of his helmet for his last race. Felipe would pit having dropped to eighth with his time now a 1m:41.723. This would become tenth as he returned to the track again on the ultra soft tyre. Felipe would set a 1m:40.723 to move into seventh. He would drop to eighth now behind Vandoorne. Felipe would pit after a seven lap run on the ultra soft tyre. In his pit Felipe would drop to ninth. With under ten minutes remaining Felipe would return running on used ultra soft tyres.

Lance Stroll:
Lance would be still in his pit after ten minutes of the session. He would finally come out running on the soft tyre. Lance would set a 1m:44.749 on his first timed lap, 3.6 seconds off the quickest time. Lance would set a 1m:42.812 to currently be ninth still on the soft tyre. Lance would continue his long run on the soft tyre with just under an hour remaining. Lance had also pitted having completed thirteen laps on the soft tyre. He was currently seventeenth but would drop to eighteenth as he remained in his pit. He would drop to last as he remained in his pit. With just over twenty minutes remaining Lance would return this time on the ultra soft tyre. Lance would set a 1m:42.243 to improved but only moved up to eighteenth. A 1m:41.889 from Lance but would only improve one place to be seventeenth. After making a mistake Lance would remain out and would set a 1m:41.581 to be thirteenth behind Grosjean.

 
Stroll
 
Pos Driver Car Time Gap Laps
1 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m39.006s - 23
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m39.126s 0.120s 25
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Renault 1m39.154s 0.148s 15
4 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m39.518s 0.512s 22
5 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1m39.741s 0.735s 30
6 Sergio Perez Force India/Mercedes 1m40.293s 1.287s 24
7 Fernando Alonso McLaren/Honda 1m40.522s 1.516s 20
8 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren/Honda 1m40.569s 1.563s 15
9 Felipe Massa Williams/Mercedes 1m40.723s 1.717s 27
10 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull/Renault 1m40.773s 1.767s 29
11 George Russell Force India/Mercedes 1m41.131s 2.125s 26
12 Romain Grosjean Haas/Ferrari 1m41.306s 2.300s 24
13 Lance Stroll Williams/Mercedes 1m41.581s 2.575s 27
14 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso/Renault 1m41.646s 2.640s 29
15 Carlos Sainz Renault 1m41.748s 2.742s 23
16 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber/Ferrari 1m41.752s 2.746s 26
17 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1m41.864s 2.858s 26
18 Antonio Giovinazzi Haas/Ferrari 1m42.065s 3.059s 21
19 Marcus Ericsson Sauber/Ferrari 1m42.344s 3.338s 28
20 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso/Renault 1m42.585s 3.579s 35
 
Stroll
 

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