United States GP: Little improvement for Williams in FP3
By Andrew Hooper
October 22 2016
The final practice session for the 2016 United States GP would see Williams Martini drivers Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa finish in 8th and 13th. After their Friday practice results the team was hoping to turn things around but they are still lacking pace with little improvement from both drivers. At least Valtteri was able to get into the top ten but based on their form qualifying is again going to be a difficult time for the Williams team.
Williams
Martini United States GP Saturday Practice
Team Summary:
After Friday practice the Williams Martini team would see both drivers well
outside the top ten. So Saturday's practice would see if the team could turn
things round. With the start of the session drivers would start to come out
on a mix of tyres pitting after their installation laps. The first time
would be set by Ocon with a 1m:41.767 using the soft tyre with the track
quite empty with nearly ten minutes of the session completed. On the medium
Ricciardo would set a 1m:39.567 but Verstappen would go ahead with a
1m:39.056 with both Red Bulls on the medium tyre. More drivers were coming
out with Perez now second but Ricciardo would set a 1m:39.001 to go
quickest. As they continued to put in laps Verstappen would set a 1m:38.973
to go fastest from Ricciardo and Perez.
On the supersoft tyre Raikkonen would go quickest with a 1m:38.512. The
session would be red flagged when Wehrlein was to spin his car at Turn
nineteen and get stuck in the gravel. The session would restart with a rush
of drivers coming out with the track now very busy with thirty minutes
remaining. Vettel would go quickest with a 1m:38.178 using the supersoft
tyre. Verstappen and Ricciardo weer third and fourth. At the front Rosberg
would go quickest with a 1m:37.784 using the soft tyre but Ricciardo would
go quickest with a 1m:37.032. Hamilton was now second with a 1m:37.483 using
the soft tyre. After their first runs Felipe and Valtteri would be sixth and
seventh. Vettel wasa fourth followed by Raikkonen while both Williams cars
were on quicker laps. Sainz was up to eighth with twenty minutes remaining.
With seventeen minutes remaining the track was quite clear but a few minutes
later Verstappen would go quickest with a 1m:36.766 using the supersoft
tyre. With the start of the qualifying simulations Raikkonen would go third
with a 1m:37.284 behind the Red Bulls. Rosberg was out on new supersoft
tyres with the McLarens ninth and tenth. Rosberg would abort his lap as
Hamilton came out on the supersoft tyres. Rosberg would take the opportunity
to carry out a practice start at the end of the pit lane. The session would
end with Hamilton on his flying lap. Hamilton was fourth with Rosberg fifth.
The Williams drivers would finish the session in eighth and thirteenth,
still lacking pace looking to have made little gains overnight.
Valtteri Bottas:
Valtteri would be first out for Williams with the start of the session
running on the medium tyre. He would pit after one installation lap.
Valtteri would come out for his first run using the supersoft tyre. He would
set a 1m:38.784 to be fourth but would drop to fifth behind his team-mate.
This would become seventh but he would improve with a 1m:38.512 to be sixth
ahead of Felipe. Valtteri would continue to run on the supersoft tyre but
would pit after nine laps. Valtteri would also return to the track on a set
of new supersoft tyres. A 1m:38.188 would see Valtteri only in seventh
dropping to eighth behind Hulkenberg. After five laps Valtteri would pit
ending his session.
Felipe Massa:
With fifteen minutes of the session completed Felipe had yet to come out but
he would do so with forty three minutes left in the session. He would come
out on the supersoft tyre but with the red flag he would be forced to pit.
Felipe would return to the track still on the supersoft tyre. Felipe would
set a 1m:38.694 to be fourth. Felipe would drop to seventh behind his
team-mate. Felipe would pit after six laps but it would only be brief still
running on the supersoft tyre. After a further lap Felipe would pit and with
ten minutes remaining would come back out on a set of new supersoft tyres.
Felipe was now eighth and not having the best of laps struggling with his
car. Felipe would drop to eleventh only managing a 1m:38.607. He would drop
to twelfth as he continued to put in laps pitting with the end of the
session. He would finish in thirteenth with the end of the session.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Renault 1m36.766s 16
2 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 1m37.032s 19
3 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m37.284s 15
4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m37.483s 12
5 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m37.784s 10
6 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m37.894s 8
7 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m37.948s 17
8 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1m38.188s 16
9 Jenson Button McLaren-Honda 1m38.212s 14
10 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Honda 1m38.452s 13
11 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1m38.512s 16
12 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1m38.528s 14
13 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1m38.607s 15
14 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m38.691s 16
15 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m38.710s 6
16 Esteban Gutierrez Haas-Ferrari 1m38.939s 13
17 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 1m39.097s 13
18 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1m39.105s 14
19 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari 1m39.239s 14
20 Felipe Nasr Sauber-Ferrari 1m39.509s 14
21 Esteban Ocon Manor-Mercedes 1m39.771s 19
22 Pascal Wehrlein Manor-Mercedes 1m41.427s 7
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