Bahrain GP: FP2 sees Williams Racing as expected.


By Andrew Hooper
March 26 2021

The second Friday practice session for the 2021 Bahrain GP would see the Williams Racing Team again finish well down the times with George Russell again leading team-mate Nicholas Latifi. Both drivers would complete qualifying simulations prior to completing a split tyre longer run evaluations. Their positions relative to the other teams was to be expected after the drivers comments but to see Nicholas finish behind one of the Haas cars came as somewhat of a surprise.

 
 Williams Racing Bahrain GP Friday 2nd Practice
 
Latifi
 

Team Summary:
Under lights the second Friday practice would commence with a rush of drivers coming out with both Williams drivers running on the medium tyre. All twenty cars were running with the medium tyre the most used. Giovinazzi set a 1m:32.495 on the hard tyre but Leclerc would go quicker only to see a group of drivers move ahead. Verstappen was now quickest with a 1m:31.842 followed by Sainz, Gasly, and Perez fourth. The Williams pair were 11th and 16th with close to ten minutes completed. Bottas was now quickest with a 1m:31.503. But Hamilton would move ahead with a 1m:31.261 from Bottas and Verstappen.

Raikkonen had crashed his car removing the front wing but was able to limp back to the pits. Both Williams drivers were back out on soft tyre runs. More drivers were also coming out on the soft tyre. Tsunoda would move into second on the soft tyre followed by Gasly also on the soft. Sainz was now fastest with a 1m:31.127 followed by Hamilton and Tsunoda. Stroll was now fourth while Hamilton would return to the top of the times with a 1m:31.082. Gasly was fifth from Bottas, Ocon, Leclerc, Giovinazzi and Vettel tenth.

The Williams drivers were 13th and 18th. Bottas would improve to be third but this would become fourth as Norris went quickest with a 1m:30.942. But Verstappen was now quickest with a 1m:30.847. After the soft tyre runs it was Verstappen from Norris, Hamilton, Sainz, Bottas, Ricciardo, Tsunoda, Stroll, Gasly, and Perez tenth. The Williams pair were 16th and 19th. Twenty minutes remaining and teams were out doing longer runs but these would have to be cut down due to the shorter session. Drivers were returning again on the medium tyre. As the session drew to a close the longer runs continued with the Williams pair splitting their long runs with one on the medium and the other the soft. The session would end with the Williams pair remaining in 17th and 19th. Their position relative to the other teams was not surprising but to see Mick Schumacher ahead of Latifi was.

George Russell:
George would follow his team-mate out also using the medium tyre. George would set a 1m:33.050 to be 10th dropping to 11th. This would become 12th now behind Ricciardo. After a five lap run George would pit. He would drop to 15th while in his pit. George would return for a soft tyre run. George would comment about how he felt the wind had shifted again. He would finish his what must have bee4n a qualifying simulation with a 1m:32.231 to be eighth. He would pit after a three lap run. As soft tyre times were set George would drop to 12th. Currently 15th George would return but running on the medium but after a short run would pit returning on the soft tyre. George would dropt o 17th as Raikkonen who had returned after his accident move ahead. With the end of the session George would pit after a sixteen lap soft tyre run.

Nicholas Latifi:
Nicholas would be first out for Williams running on the medium tyre. Nicholas had set a 1m:34.849 to be currently 15th. He would drop to 16th but with a 1m:33.702 would move back to 15th. He would pit after a short five lap run. In his pit Nicholas would drop to 17th. Nicholas would also come out for a soft tyre run. Nicholas would fail to improve pitting after a three lap run. Having dropped to 19th Nicholas would return again on the soft tyre. But he would pit after a single lap quickly returning on used soft tyres. But he would switch to the medium tyre. He would put in a longer run of sixteen laps which would see him finish the session.

 
Russell
 
Cla # Driver Chassis Engine Laps Time Gap Interval
1 33  Max Verstappen
Red Bull Honda 23 1'30.847
2 4  Lando Norris
McLaren Mercedes 25 1'30.942 0.095 0.095
3 44  Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes Mercedes 24 1'31.082 0.235 0.140
4 55  Carlos Sainz Jr.
Ferrari Ferrari 26 1'31.127 0.280 0.045
5 77  Valtteri Bottas
Mercedes Mercedes 23 1'31.218 0.371 0.091
6 3  Daniel Ricciardo
McLaren Mercedes 22 1'31.230 0.383 0.012
7 22  Yuki Tsunoda
AlphaTauri Honda 23 1'31.294 0.447 0.064
8 18  Lance Stroll
Aston Martin Mercedes 24 1'31.393 0.546 0.099
9 10  Pierre Gasly
AlphaTauri Honda 27 1'31.483 0.636 0.090
10 11  Sergio Perez
Red Bull Honda 23 1'31.503 0.656 0.020
11 31  Esteban Ocon
Alpine Renault 24 1'31.601 0.754 0.098
12 16  Charles Leclerc
Ferrari Ferrari 26 1'31.612 0.765 0.011
13 99 Antonio Giovinazzi
Alfa Romeo Ferrari 27 1'31.740 0.893 0.128
14 5  Sebastian Vettel
Aston Martin Mercedes 26 1'31.769 0.922 0.029
15 14  Fernando Alonso
Alpine Renault 24 1'31.770 0.923 0.001
16 7  Kimi Raikkonen
Alfa Romeo Ferrari 15 1'31.862 1.015 0.092
17 63  George Russell
Williams Mercedes 28 1'32.331 1.484 0.469
18 47  Mick Schumacher
Haas Ferrari 24 1'33.297 2.450 0.966
19 6  Nicholas Latifi
Williams Mercedes 28 1'33.400 2.553 0.103
20 9  Nikita Mazepin
Haas Ferrari 19 1'33.449 2.602 0.049
 
Russell
 

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Bahrain GP: FP2 sees Williams Racing as expected.
Discussion started by Williams F1 , 26/03/2021 16:39
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