Australian GP: Mixed qualifying for Williams Martini
By Andrew Hooper
March 25 2017
The results for the 2017 Australian GP would be mixed for the Williams Martini team with Felipe Massa finishing an encouraging 7th but for his team-mate Lance Stroll his qualifying would see him not make it past the first period. Lance had damaged his car in the final practice session which would see his mechanics finishing the repairs as the first period of qualifying started. With the reapirs on his car Lance would incur a five place grid penalty and what with his time this would see him start Sunday's race from last.
Williams
Martini Australian GP Qualifying
With the
Williams Martini team working hard to get the damaged car of Lance Stroll
prior to qualifying. Lance had put his car into the barrier in the final
practice session and with the repairs he would incur a five place grid
penalty due to a gearbox change. Both Williams drivers had finished the
final practice outside the top ten so making it into the final period may be
difficult. With the start of the opening eighteen minute period Lance's car
would still be worked on. The early quickest time was from Vettel with a
1m:25.733 running on the super soft tyre. Felipe was out on the track for
Williams running on the ultra soft tyre.
Bottas was now quickest with a 1m:24.514 using the ultra soft tyre. Felipe
would go fifth with a 1m:25.829 to be 1.3 seconds off Bottas' time. Hamilton
was now second seeing Vettel third. With nine minutes remaining Lance was in
his car getting ready to come out. Perez was fourth as Lance took to the
track running on the ultra soft tyre. Ricciardo would go fifth seeing Felipe
drop to sixth. Hamilton would go fastest with a 1m:24.191. Felipe had pitted
while Lance was out on his first lap checking his car out. Hulkenberg was
seventh behind Felipe while Lance was on his flying lap and would set a
1m:27.143 to be eighteenth and slowest of the times.
Raikkonen would move up to second, 1m:24.464, using the ultra soft tyre.
With the end of the period Felipe would finish in seventh having moved up
from eleventh on his last flying lap. His time was a 1m:25.099 while Lance
would finish in nineteenth, 1m:27.143, but would start the race from last
due to his penalty. The top ten would be Hamilton, Raikkonen, Verstappen,
Bottas, Hulkenberg, Perez, Felipe, Vettel, Ricciardo, and Grosjean.
The second fifteen minute period would see both Mercedes and Ferrari's come
out all on ultra soft tyres. Bottas would set a 1m:23.215 and Hamilton a
1m:23.251. Raikkonen was third followed by Vettel. Felipe was on the track
for Williams also on the ultra soft tyre. Felipe was now in seventh with a
1m:24.895 to be behind Verstappen. Ricciardo was fifth while Sainz and Kvyat
were eighth and ninth. Felipe would pit after just a single flying lap. His
next run a 1m:24.597 which was an improvement but would remain seventh.
Felipe would make it into the top ten which was a great result. Bottas would
remain fastest from Hamilton, Raikkonen, Vettel, Ricciardo, Verstappen,
Felipe, Grosjean, Kvyat and Sainz. This would see everyone starting Sunday's
race on the ultra soft tyre.
The final twelve
minute period would see Bottas out first followed by Vettel. Hamilton would
wait at the end of the pit lane. Both Red Bull cars would come out leaving
four cars in the pits including Felipe. Bottas would set a 1m:22.798 but
would be passed by Vettel and then Hamilton. But Hamilton would set a
1m:22.496 to go quickest by 0.300. Ricciardo's qualifying would end badly
when he would go off and put his car into the barrier with the rear of the
car going into the barrier as he spun. This would see the period red flagged
with eight minutes remaining as Ricciardo's car was removed.
With the restart Grosjean would be first out and would go fifth with a
1m:24.074. Felipe would take to the track along with the rest of the top
ten. Bottas would set a 1m:22.481 to go quickest but Hamilton would set a
1m:22.188 to move ahead. Vettel was able to move up to second seeing Bottas
third followed by Raikkonen and Verstappen. Grosjean was sixth and Felipe
would finish with a 1m:24.443 to be seventh. Sainz would be eight and Kvyat
ninth. The result for Williams was a good effort from Felipe but he was 2.2
seconds off the pace of Hamilton.
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