Japanese GP: Further disappointment for Williams Martini
By Andrew Hooper
October 7 2018
The results for the 2018 Japanese GP would see the Williams Martini team come away with a race of further disappointment. Team drivers Sergey Sirotkin and Lance Stroll would finish well down the order in 16th and 17th, effectively last in the race. It was a race where despite an encouraging qualifying they again struggled for pace in the race. Both drivers would adopt a two stop strategy but this did little to help their situation. Again the FW41 simply struggled for pace in the race.
Japanese Grand Prix Race Review
The grid for the
fifty three lap 2018 Japanese Grand Prix would see Williams Martini drivers
Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin start from 14th and 17th positions
respectively. On pole was Hamilton from Bottas, Verstappen, Raikkonen,
Grosjean, Hartley, Gasly, Vettel, Perez and Leclerc in tenth. Of the top ten
the Mercedes and Grosjean would start on the used soft tyre while Leclerc
was able to start on new soft tyres as he moved forward due to grid penalty
for Ocon that would see him start 11th. The rest of the top ten would be on
supersoft tyres. Both Williams would start on new soft tyres while those
outside the top ten were also on this tyre except Hulkenberg who was on the
medium.
The grid would complete their formation lap and return and with the lights
going out it would be Hamilton leading with Vettel getting up to sixth.
Bottas was second and Verstappen third. Raikkonen was fourth while Vettel
would get past Grosjean for fifth. For Williams lance was running in 16 and
Sergey 17th. Verstappen would make a mistake at the first chicane seeing him
make contact with Raikkonen seeing Vettel passing his team-mate as a result.
There would be contact between Magnussen and Leclerc that would see the Hass
driver get a left rear puncture. Ericsson would get past Sergey for 17th
seeing the Williams now 18th. Magnussen would complete a lap with the rear
tyre creating debris around the track. he would pit coming back out a lap
behind on the medium tyre. The Safety Car would be deployed no doubt due to
the debris from Magnussen's car. The incident between Verstappen and
Raikkonen was under investigation.
Leclerc would
pit on lap six joined by Sergey. Sergey would change to the medium tyre.
Leclerc's pit stop was the change a damaged front wing and switch to the
medium tyre. Lance was now running in 15th behind Hulkenberg. Verstappen
would be given a five second timed penalty for not returning safely. The
Safety Car would come in on lap eight and it would be Hamilton leading from
Bottas and Verstappen. The Williams drivers were running in 15th and 17th.
Sergey would get past Leclerc for 16th at the restart but the positions
would be reversed. Vettel would try to pass Verstappen at the Spoon curve
but the pair would make contact seeing Vettel would spin dropping to the
rear of the field. This incident was under investigation with the Williams
pair 14th and 16th. Lance was still running on the soft tyre with eleven
laps completed.
Magnussen would pit to retire while Vettel would continue to run moving up
to 17th. At the front Hamilton was leading Bottas by 2.2 seconds with
Verstappen third followed by Raikkonen, Ricciardo, Grosjean, Gasly, Perez,
Ocon and Sainz tenth. Vettel would get past Lance seeing him now 16th and
Sergey 18th. Lance would pit taking on medium tyres and would return in 19th
seeing Sergey now 17th. Lap twenty and Raikkonen would pit dropping to ninth
but now on the medium tyre. Vettel was now up to 12th behind Hartley.
Ricciardo was now in fourth followed by Grosjean and Gasly. Verstappen would
pit taking his penalty and dropping to fourth. Bottas and Ricciardo would
pit on lap twenty four seeing the order now Hamilton with Bottas still
second followed by Verstappen, Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Grosjean, Gasly, Ocon,
Sainz, and Vettel tenth. It was confirmed that Lance would get a five second
penalty for causing a collision at the re-start.
Sergey was
running in 16th and Lance 18th with twenty seven laps completed. Vettel
would pit on lap twenty nine taking on the soft tyre seeing him 16th. Sergey
was now 15th having been behind Ocon but Sergey would get back ahead now in
14th but again the positions would change with Sergey dropping to 15th.
Lance was running in 17th. Vettel would move past both Williams with Sergey
and Lance now 16th and 17th but with Hartley pitting they would move up to
15th and 16th with Sergey still ahead of Lance. Hamilton had also pitted
changing to the medium tyre and retaining his lead. The Williams drivers
were able to move up to 14th and 15th as a result of a pitstop by
Hulkenberg. Vettel continued to move up and on lap thirty four he was
eighth. Sainz would pit on lap thirty four dropping to 14th. This would see
Sergey move up to 13th while Lance continued to run in 15th. Sainz would get
past Sergey with the Williams drivers now 14th and 15th.
Vettel was now
in sixth but was now 40 seconds behind his team-mate Raikkonen in fifth.
Hartley running on the soft tyre would get past Lance for 15th. Hartley
would also gte past Sergey for 13th seeing the Williams drivers now 14th and
15th. With the pit stops completed Alonso would get past Lance taking 15th
and was close behind Sergey and would pass seeing the Williams drivers now
15th and 16th. Sergey would pit on lap forty taking on new supersoft tyres
with Lance also coming in the next lap also taking on new supersoft tyres.
They were now running in 16th and 17th and behind both McLaren's. The
Williams pit stops would take place under the Virtual safety Car as
Leclerc's car was removed after he stopped with an issue at Turn ten.
The final laps would wind down and it would be Hamilton who would take
victory from Bottas, Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Vettel, Perez, Grosjean, Ocon and
Gasly tenth. The Williams drivers would finish in 16th and 17th and last.
Again the Williams drivers suffered from a lack of pace come the race. Even
if they qualify well they just seem to go backwards with a lack of pace. This
would most likely not be something that will change for the last races of
the 2018 season.
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