Japanese GP: Disappointing qualifying for Williams Racing


By Andrew Hooper
October 8 2022

The results of qualifying for the 2022 Japanese GP would see the Williams Racing Team finish well down the order with Alex Albon in 16th and Nicholas Latifi 20th. For Alex his result was made even more frustrating by the fact that the margins were so close and it was only through a mistake on the final corner that he failed to make it through to Q2. For Nicholas his session was again one of not been on the pace. But even if he had finished a few places higher it would not matter as he has to take a five grid place penalty for Sundays race. Given their starting positions it is going to be a tough race from which to achieve a good result.

 
 Williams Racing Japanese GP Qualifying
 
Latifi
 

Team Summary:
With the start of qualifying for the 2022 Japanese GP a few cars would come out including a Williams. Next was Norris as Tsunoda set a 1m:31.631 to be an early quickest from team-mate Gasly. There was now a rush of drivers coming out with both Mercedes cars on the medium tyre. Both AlphaTauri cars had pitted as Norris set a 1m:31.431 to be quickest while Russell and Hamilton were third and fourth but it would change as Perez went quickest. Only to be beaten by Verstappen who set a 1m:30.224. Norris was now third but it would change with Sainz moving into second ahead of Perez with Ricciardo now fourth followed by Norris. Leclerc was now in third as the Williams cars completed their timed laps to see them now 15th and 20th as other drivers set their times.

Alonso was now in fourth ahead of Perez, Ricciardo, Ocon, Bottas, Gasly and Tsunoda tenth. The Mercedes had run on the medium tyre but they would return on the soft tyre seeing Russell sixth and Hamilton eighth. Both Williams drivers were back out for a further soft tyre run with two minutes remaining. The final laps would be completed and the Williams pair could only manage 16th and 20th. Verstappen was quickest from Sainz, Leclerc, Alonso, Perez, Ocon, Russell, Ricciardo, Norris, and Zhou tenth.
 
Albon
 
The second period would end and it would be Perez quickest with time of 1m:29.925 from Alonso, Verstappen, Ocon, Hamilton, Sainz, Russell, Norris, Leclerc and Vettel tenth. So it would be these ten who would start the final qualifying period and after their runs it would be Verstappen quickest with a 1m:29.304 followed by Leclerc, Sainz, Perez, Ocon, Hamilton, Alonso, Russell, Vettel and Norris tenth. But during the final period Norris would have a near miss with Verstappen seeing the McLaren having to take t the grass to avoid the Red Bull. This would see an investigation by the Race Stewards and whether or not any penalty would come from this was yet to be decided. As for Williams the results were on one side of the garage as expected but the failure by Alex to get into Q2 was disappointing.
 
Latifi
 

Alex Albon:
Alex would take to the track for his first soft tyre run and would complete his flying lap with a 1m:31.588 to be 13th. He would drop to last as he was to have his lap time deleted due to a track limits violation. Nicholas would pit and would return for a second soft tyre run. But he could only manage 16th and was also out of qualifying. After his encouraging FP3 performance not to make it into Q2 was a big disappointment.

Nicholas Latifi:
Nicholas would be amongst the first out in qualifying using the soft tyre. But Nicholas would pit without setting a time. But he would return on another set of soft tyres and would set a 1m:32.019 to be 16th. He would dropt o 19th and it should be remembered that he was going to face a five place grid penalty for his incident in the Singapore GP. Nicholas had pitted but would quickly return and would set a 1m:31.511 to be 15th but would drop to 17th and out of qualifying. He would finish 20th in the session so his grid place penalty would not make any real difference.
 

Albon
 

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Japanese GP: Disappointing qualifying for Williams Racing
Discussion started by Williams F1 , 08/10/2022 09:56
Williams F1
08/10/2022 09:56
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