Abu Dhabi GP: Williams Martini inside top ten in FP3
By Andrew Hooper
November 28 2015
The final practice sesion for the 2015t Abu Dhabi GP would see both Williams Martini drivers inside the top ten with Felipe Massa 8th and Valtteri Bottas 9th. For the pair this represented a small improvement over Friday's best but again the team is still looking for that extra bit of p[ace to bring themselves closer to the front. Now it was down to qualifying and whether both drivers can make it through into Q3.
Williams
Martini Abu Dhabi GP Saturday Practice
Team Summary:
After a Friday that saw both Williams Martini drivers looking for extra pace
Saturday practice for the 2015 Abu Dhabi GP was the time to see if they had
turned things around. Nasr would set the first quickest time with a
1m:46.061 with Ericsson going second. A 1m:45.836 from Nasr followed by a
1m:44.306 from Perez. Perez was now quickest from Felipe and Hulkenberg.
Sainz would move into third followed by Hulkenberg and Valtteri. Verstappen
would push Valtteri down to sixth with Sainz now fastest with a 1m:44.300
only to see Vettel and then Raikkonen go quicker. The quickest time from
Raikkonen was a 1m:43.214. Vettel would improve but remained second,
1m:43.821.
But Rosberg would move into second with a 1m:43.415 while after these first
runs Felipe and Valtteri were now sixth and ninth. Hamilton would go
quickest with a 1m:43.078 followed by Raikkonen and Rosberg. As they
continued their longer runs on the soft tyre the Williams drivers were
currently in eighth and eleventh. with twenty minutes remaining the order
was Hamilton from Raikkonen, Rosberg, Vettel, Ricciardo, Sainz, Perez,
Felipe, Verstappen, and Hulkenberg tenth. Fifteen minutes remaining and the
track was empty but drivers started to come out for their qualifying
simulations with both Mercedes cars out on the track.
On his lap Rosberg would go quickest in sector one and he would finish with
a 1m:42.196. Hamilton would respond going fastest in sector one. But he
would go wide at Turn six ruining his lap. Rosberg would also get in another
quick lap setting a 1m:41.856 with Hamilton setting a 1m:42.137 to remain
second. After their first runs Felipe and Valtteri were third and fifth. But
Ricciardo would go third with the track now very busy. Vettel was up to
third, 1m:42.185 now followed by Perez, Ricciardo, and Felipe sixth. As the
session came to an end Felipe was eighth and Valtteri ninth. With the end of
the session Rosberg would remain fastest from Hamilton and Vettel. Both
Williams drivers were 1.3 seconds off the quickest time which was a slight
improvement over Friday.
Felipe Massa:
Felipe would be first out for the Williams team running on the soft tyre.
Felipe would complete his lap with a 1m:44.375 to be second. With other
drivers going quicker Felipe would drop to fifth then seventh. Felipe was
also on a longer run on the soft tyre. With his team-mate back in the pits
Felipe had completed twelve laps. Having completed sixteen laps Felipe would
pit still in eighth. Felipe would follow Valtteri out and would move up to
third with a 1m:43.173 to be behind Hamilton. Felipe would drop to eighth
with the end of the session.
Valtteri Bottas:
Valtteri would follow Felipe out also on the soft tyre. Valtteri's first
time was a 1m:44.980 to be fifth. He would drop to sixth then seventh.
Valtteri would improve with a 1m:44.615 but remained seventh. Valtteri would
drop to tenth as he completed a long run on the soft tyre. Valtteri would
pit having completed eleven laps. Replays had shown that his car was quite
unstable with Valtteri having to make big corrections of the steering wheel.
Valtteri would be first out for Williams running on the super soft tyre.
Valtteri would set a personal best in sector one. Valtteri would set a
1m:43.239 to be fourth. With Felipe moving into third Valtteri was now
fifth. He would drop to ninth one place behind his team-mate.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m41.856s
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m42.137s
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m42.185s
4 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1m42.448s
5 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m42.627s
6 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 1m42.726s
7 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m42.859s
8 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1m43.173s
9 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1m43.239s
10 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso-Renault 1m43.429s
11 Jenson Button McLaren-Honda 1m43.508s
12 Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Mercedes 1m43.680s
13 Felipe Nasr Sauber-Ferrari 1m43.718s
14 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso-Renault 1m43.826s
15 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Mercedes 1m43.928s
16 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Honda 1m44.014s
17 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari 1m44.325s
18 Will Stevens Marussia-Ferrari 1m47.283s
19 Roberto Merhi Marussia-Ferrari 1m47.520s
- Daniil Kvyat Red Bull-Renault -
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