Hungarian GP: FP3 sees Williams Racing hampered.


By Andrew Hooper
July 31 2021

The final Saturday practice session for the 2021 Hungarian GP would see the Williams racing team 16th and 17th in the times. George Russell was again ahead of team-mate Nicholas Latifi in a session that saw both drivers focus on runs using the soft tyre. But their final qualifying simulation run would be hampered when  they would be forced to pit as rge result of a Red Flag. Both drivers would return but would fail to improve. How they would perform in qualifying is an open question with the prospect of both given better runs on the soft tyre could be able to make it into Q2.

 
 Williams Racing Hungarian GP Saturday Practice
 
Latifi
 

Team Summary:
With the start of the final Saturday practice for the 2021 Hungarian GP the Haas cars would be out first. Tsunoda after limited running on Friday was out early followed by Raikkonen and Sainz. On the medium Tsunoda would be quickest with a 1m:20.790 followed by Schumacher and Mazepin. On the soft Raikkonen would set a 1m:19.547 to be quickest with close to ten minutes completed. Sainz would move ahead with a 1m:19.443 followed by Raikkonen and Tsunoda. Hamilton was next out using the soft tyre and he would go straight to the top of the times with a 1m:18.587 with Raikkonen now second. But Sainz would move up to second as the first of the Williams took to the track.

With twenty minutes of the session completed more drivers started to come out including both McLaren's and the second Williams. Perez was now in third behind Sainz. Both Alpines were running as Vettel went sixth on the medium tyre. Verstappen was now quickest with a 1m:17.519 using the soft tyre. But Bottas would move ahead with a 1m:17.428 with Verstappen second followed by Hamilton, Sainz, Leclerc, and Nicholas. Perez was now in fourth while the Williams pair were seventh and 14th. With thirty minutes completed the order was Bottas, Verstappen, Hamilton, Perez, Gasly, Leclerc, Sainz, Nicholas, Norris and Ocon in tenth.

Both Williams cars would return to their pits completing their initial soft tyre runs. They would be joined by the majority of the field as we saw the Williams drivers drop to tenth and 16th. Norris had moved into third ahead of Hamilton but this would change as Sainz went second ahead of a now third placed Verstappen. Both Williams had just returned again on the soft tyre but the session would be Red Flagged after a crash from Schumacher. Schumacher had lost his car seeing him hit the barrier heavily sideways. On the soft tyre Bottas had improved his lap time with a 1m:17.055.

The session would restart and there would be a line of cars at the pit exit. With the restart both Williams cars would return very quickly. The only tyre to be seen was the soft tyre as we waited for all the qualifying simulations to be completed. As the times came we had Verstappen fastest only to see Hamilton go quicker with a 1m:16.826. The Williams drivers were now down in 16th and 17th as the session ended. The order was Hamilton from Verstappen, Bottas, Sainz, Leclerc, Norris, Perez, Ricciardo, Alonso and Gasly tenth. Whether with the Red Flag both Williams drivers had lost the best of their soft tyres as they had been out a lap on them prior to the stop. But how they would perform in qualifying was an open question with the prospect of oth given better runs on the soft tyre could be able to make it into Q2.

Nicholas Latifi:
Nicholas would be out first for Williams using the soft tyre. He would set a 1m:19.672 to be sixth. He would quickly drop to 15th. Nicholas would report that his left hand mirror had broken. He would improve significantly with a 1m:18.999 to be sixth. He would pit currently eighth. In the pits he had dropped to tenth as he returned for a further soft tyre run but like his team-mate he would be forced to pit with a Red Flag. With the restart Nicholas would return still on the soft tyre. As the times started to come Nicholas would drop to 16th. He would return to the pit but would quickly come back out. But with the end of the session Nicholas was only 17th.

George Russell:
George would join Nicholas out also using the soft tyre. A 1nm:19.500 would see George seventh but he would drop to ninth then 12th. This would become 14th even with a 1m:19.301 with just over half the session completed. He would return for a further run on the soft tyre but he would have to return to his garage with a Red Flag. But with the restart George was quickly back at on the soft tyre. He had dropped to 17th as he started his quali simulation. He would set a 1mL18.794 to be 13th. He would drop to 15th one place ahead of his team-mate. He would pit after a four lap run. With the end of the session he would be 16th.

 
Russell
 
Cla Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap
1  Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 20 1'16.826  
2  Max Verstappen Red Bull 13 1'16.914 0.088
3  Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 15 1'17.055 0.229
4  Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari 20 1'17.497 0.671
5  Charles Leclerc Ferrari 16 1'17.520 0.694
6  Lando Norris McLaren 12 1'17.772 0.946
7  Sergio Perez Red Bull 12 1'17.917 1.091
8  Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 15 1'17.942 1.116
9  Fernando Alonso Alpine 15 1'17.992 1.166
10  Lance Stroll Aston Martin 16 1'18.050 1.224
11  Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 17 1'18.115 1.289
12  Esteban Ocon Alpine 15 1'18.174 1.348
13  Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 15 1'18.235 1.409
14  Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 25 1'18.461 1.635
15  Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo 21 1'18.683 1.857
16  George Russell Williams 14 1'18.794 1.968
17  Nicholas Latifi Williams 15 1'18.821 1.995
18  Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo 14 1'19.113 2.287
19  Mick Schumacher Haas 15 1'19.406 2.580
20  Nikita Mazepin Haas 16 1'19.933 3.107
 
Latifi
 

Bookmark or share this story with:

Hungarian GP: FP3 sees Williams Racing hampered.
Discussion started by Williams F1 , 31/07/2021 13:12
Williams F1
31/07/2021 13:12
What do you think? You can have your say by posting below.
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.

Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.
We record all IP addresses on the Sportnetwork message boards which may be required by the authorities in case of defamatory or abusive comment. We seek to monitor the Message Boards at regular intervals. We do not associate Sportnetwork with any of the comments and do not take responsibility for any statements or opinions expressed on the Message Boards. If you have any cause for concern over any material posted here please let us know as soon as possible by e-mailing abuse@sportnetwork.net