Indian GP: Encouraging start for Williams F1 in FP1


By Andrew Hooper
October 25 2013

The opening Friday practice for the 2013 Indian GP would see Williams F1 driver Valtteri Bottas finish in an encouraging tenth. Team-mate Pastor Maldonado was down in fourteenth as the team worked through their practice session schedule.

 
 Indian GP Friday 1st Practice
 
Bottas
 

The opening ninety minute Friday practice for the 2013 Indian GP would see the Williams F1 team looking at sunny conditions. For this weekend Pirelli had brought their medium and soft tyres with the medium tyre being the most likely tyre used in this first session. With the start of the session both Williams cars of Valtteri Bottas and Pastor Maldonado would come out for their installation laps. They would pit after one lap as other drivers took to the circuit. Several drivers would complete more than just the one lap with Raikkonen and Grosjean completing three. The last driver yet to come out would be Ricciardo with his mechanics working on his car with what looked like a gearbox change.

Twenty minutes of the session complete an no times had been set. The drivers would only have used of a single set of the harder tyres for the session. With twenty five minutes completed it would be Perez who would return to the track while for the Williams team they had some aero work planned for the session including front wing comparisons and floor modifications. Perez would set a 1m:30.953 on his first lap but would improve with a 1m:28.207 having completed eight laps. Ricciardo would finally make it out onto the track joined by both of the Williams drivers. Perez would pit as both Caterham's also came out. More drivers would come out including Chilton, Bianchi, Button, and Vergne. Valtteri would set a 1m:30.838 on his first lap with Pastor a 1m:31.180. Valtteri and Pastor were now second and third with forty minutes of the session completed.

Vergne would move into third with a 1m:31.045 and team-mate Ricciardo set a 1m:30.675 to be second. Button was now third with a 1m:30.647 but Valtteri would move into the 1m:28's with a 1m:28.893 to be second but 0.6 seconds behind Perez's time. Pastor was now third with a 1m:29.216 with Button fourth followed by Vergne, Ricciardo, Van der Gar and Bianchi. Rosberg was now out on the track joined by Hulkenberg with forty five minutes remaining. Valtteri would put ion a quick lap going fastest in sector two but would miss going fastest by 0.226 with a time of 1m:28.433. Next out would be Hamilton as Button moved to the top of the times with a 1m:27.995. Valtteri and Pastor were now third and fourth. Massa would be thr first of the Ferrari's to come out as both Williams drivers pitted having completed eight laps each.

Vergne would push Pastor down one place moving into fourth with a 1m:28.498. Rosberg would complete a few laps improving with a 1m:27.937 to be quickest. Hamilton was now sixth with a 1m:28.556. Di Resta had being replaced by James Calado for this session with Calado now fifteenth. Hulkenberg was now eighth and Raikkonen ninth. Alonso, Vettel, Webber, and Grosjean were all out on the track with thirty five minutes remaining. Rosberg was on a quicker lap finishing with a 1m:27.217 to remain quickest but now by 0.778 seconds. Vettel was now ninth, 1m:29.251, as Massa moved into fifth with a time of 1m:28.456. Webber's first lap would see him tenth, 1m:28.803 but he would drop down the times as Vettel and Alonso went faster. Vettel would go quickest with a 1m:27.196 and Alonso fifth, 1m:28.214. But Webber would also improve to be third with a 1m:27.872.

Valtteri was now currently eighth and Pastor thirteenth as both drivers returned to the track for their second runs. Massa was now third, 1m:27.766, while at the front Rosberg had also gone faster with a 1m:26.899 to be quickest. But Vettel would respond with a 1m:26.683 to again top the times. Webber was now fourth, 1m:27.872, while Hamilton was down in tenth. Button was now fifth, 1m:27.995 and Grosjean sixth, 1m:27.996. Valtteri had dropped to be tenth and Pastor thirteenth with under thirty minutes remaining. Sutil had improved to be eleventh with a time of 1m:28.468. Ricciardo was now fourteenth seeing Pastor drop to fifteenth. Alonso was back in his garage with what appeared to be a gearbox issue. Twenty five minutes remaining and the track was now fairly quite with Perez back out currently sixth.

Pastor would improve with a 1m:28.342 to be just ahead of Valtteri but Valtteri would respond with a 1m:27.800 to be sixth. This would become seventh as Button improved to be fifth with a 1m:27.335. But Pastor would spin at the chicane at Turn six. He was able to continue as Perez improved to be sixth, 1m:27.416. Valtteri was now eighth and Pastor eleventh. Both Drivers had pitted with just over twenty minutes remaining. In 2012 the best time in FP1 was a 1m:27.6 so the top six were already under this time. Vettel was back out with Hamilton and Raikkonen well down the times. Alonso was now tenth as Hamilton started a quicker lap but it would only see him move up to be fourteenth, 1m:28.502. Rosberg was again out on the track as Vergne improved to be tenth, 1m:28.035.

Valtteri had tried a different front wing but said that is felt similar to the previous one. Grosjean was now third with a 1m:26.990, and Webber fourth. In Alonso's garage his mechanics had started work on the rear of his car. Hamilton would run wide at Turn one taking to the gravel but was able to continue. Under ten minutes remaining with little improvement expected as the tyres were now past their best. Raikkonen had dropped to be seventeenth while Hamilton was on a quicker lap finishing with a 1m:27.774 to move up to eighth. Both Williams drivers were back out for their final run in the session. As the final min utes counted down we only had Alonso and Raikkonen still in the pits. One driver to improve would be Webber with a 1m:26.871 to now be second. But Hamilton would also find time with a 1m:27.227 to be fifth.

Five minutes left in the session as both Williams drivers continued to put in further laps. Valtteri was now ninth and Pastor fourteenth. The session would come to an end with no major changes with Vettel fastest followed by Webber, Rosberg, Grosjean, Hamilton, Button, Perez, Massa, Hulkenberg, and Valtteri now tenth. Pastor had pitted remaining fourteenth in what was an encouraging session for the Williams team with Valtteri finishing in the top ten.

 
Maldonado
 
Pos Driver         	  Team		        Time     Laps
 1. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      1m26.683s 24
 2. Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault      1m26.871s 17
 3. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes              1m26.899s 23
 4. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault         1m26.990s 20
 5. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes              1m27.227s 21
 6. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1m27.335s 23
 7. Sergio Perez          McLaren-Mercedes      1m27.416s 23
 8. Felipe Massa          Ferrari               1m27.692s 21
 9. Nico Hulkenberg       Sauber-Ferrari        1m27.770s 19
10. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Renault      1m27.800s 23
11. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m28.035s 25
12. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari               1m28.214s 6
13. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m28.336s 18
14. Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault      1m28.342s 21
15. Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes  1m28.468s 20
16. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari        1m28.538s 18
17. Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault         1m28.730s 18
18. James Calado          Force India-Mercedes  1m29.197s 22
19. Giedgo van der Garde  Caterham-Renault      1m29.413s 24
20. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Cosworth     1m29.560s 20
21. Charles Pic           Caterham-Renault      1m30.026s 23
22. Max Chilton           Marussia-Cosworth     1m30.471s 17
 

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Indian GP: Encouraging start for Williams F1
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