Australian GP: Bottas 5th after Friday practice


By Williams Martini Racing
March 13 2015

Williams Martini driver Valtteri Bottas would finish Friday practice for the 2015 Australian GP in 5th position. His team-mate Felipe Massa was not so lucky having suffered a water leak in his power unit which would see him miss the second practice session. Despite this both Valtteri and Felipe were positive about their inital feelings with the FW37.

 
 Williams Martini Australian GP Friday Practice Review
Bottas
 
Objectives
• Aero evaluations, set-up and tyre work
 

Massa 

Felipe Massa:
"It’s a bit disappointing to have only run in one session today; a water leak in the power unit required a repair. The more you run the more you understand the best direction to take with the set-up and what the track conditions are like, but at least I managed to get some valuable laps under my belt in the morning and the overall feeling from the car is positive. It’s also good to identify any problems early on rather than experiencing them in qualifying or the race."

Bottas 
  

 Valtteri Bottas:
"It was a very productive Friday; whilst Felipe was unlucky with a technical problem and lost some running, we managed to complete our run programme and get as prepared as we can for qualifying and the race. Straight out of the box the car felt good; it was particularly good in the long runs and the tyres felt consistent with not much drop off in performance. We can still find improvements in the short run pace and do more to unlock the tyre performance over one lap, so that will be a focus in tomorrow’s third practice session."
 

Rob Smedley
  

Rob Smedley, Head of Vehicle Performance:
"We picked up a lot of data on Valtteri’s car and completed all of the tests we had planned so it was a good day for him. Unfortunately our post FP1 inspection identified a water leak on the power unit of Felipe’s car. This required the power unit to be removed from the chassis to repair, which resulted in Felipe missing FP2. We didn’t have any other reliability issues with the car that are causing us concern. For us a Friday is not about making headlines or chasing lap time; we keep our heads down and diligently go about our business. That is exactly what we have done and I’m pleased to see that the team has picked up from where we left off in Abu Dhabi and worked well as a unit."
 
Massa
 
Williams F1 Classification
 
Driver Chassis & Engine FP1 FP2
V BOTTAS FW37-03, PU106B Hybrid 1:30.748 (3rd) 1:29.265 (5th)
F MASSA FW37-02, PU106B Hybrid 1:31.188 (7th) -
Quickest Times
    N Rosberg, 1:29.557 N Rosberg 1:27.697
       
 
Practice Conditions
 
  FP1 FP2
Weather Warm and Dry Warm and Dry
Air  & Track Temp 17 - 22°C / 33 - 41°C 19 - 20°C / 30 - 40°C
 
Massa
 

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Australian GP: Bottas 5th after Friday practice
Discussion started by Williams F1 , 13/03/2015 11:35
Williams F1
13/03/2015 11:35
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