Qatar GP: Late race punctures for Williams Racing
By Williams Racing
November 22 2021
The results of the 2021 Qatar GP would see only one Williams Racing Team car making it to the finish with George Russell in 17th. For Nicholas Latifi his race would see him suffer a DNF as a result of a tyre puncture that would force him to stop out on the track. George was also to suffer a puncture late in the race. It was a race that saw the team push the one stop strategy to its limits running very long on the hard tyre. Another frustating race that again saw the team fail to even look like achieving a points scoring finish. But the same could be said of their main championship rivals.
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Williams Racing Qatar GP
Race Review |
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Race Notes
• George Russell finished 17th in the Qatar Grand Prix, whilst Nicholas
Latifi retired due to a punctured tyre.
• George started 15th and Nicholas 17th, both on the soft Pirelli tyre.
• George made one scheduled stop on lap 17 for the hard compound tyre,
before a puncture forced a second stop on lap 49, in which he took the
soft Pirelli tyre.
• Nicholas made an initial stop on lap 18 to take the hard Pirelli
compound. Unfortunately, a puncture on led to his retirement from the
race on lap 51. |
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Nicholas Latifi:
"We tried to make the one-stop work knowing that it would be on the
limit with tyres, but we thought we could manage it as a strategy call.
The surprising thing was that I had no idea that the tyre was about to
suffer a puncture, so unfortunately, we weren’t able to adjust our
strategy in time. Even once George had to pit again, I still thought
that I’d be able to finish the race on my current set as they felt
absolutely fine. Overall, I think the strategy was worth the risk,
especially once we’d lost track position to the Alfa Romeos, because we
couldn’t have done anything more. It’s a shame that the race didn’t work
out as the car felt really good around this circuit, but that’s how
things go sometimes." |
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George Russell:
"We had an aggressive strategy today and we were trying to push our
final stint as long as possible. With the really high-speed right-hand
corners at this circuit, the tyres were always going to be pushed to
their limit but we had to be that aggressive to be in the fight with the
Alfa Romeos. Unfortunately, the left front tyre punctured a few laps
from the end so it's one of those things. It was a shame for our race to
end that way but ultimately, it's nothing gained nothing lost, as our
nearest rivals didn't score any points." |
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Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance:
"Having lost positions on the opening lap, we were keen on executing a
one-stop race, which nearly half the field completed successfully. The
first stint tyres were in good condition when we made our stop and so,
with management, the one-stop race was viable and was our best
opportunity to make progress. The car was working well and both drivers
were comfortable and so to suffer the punctures so late in the race was
a shame. Nicholas’s was especially annoying as it happened shortly after
the pit entry and meant that he couldn’t negotiate his way back to the
pit lane.
Despite being at the final event of a tough triple-header, the team has
worked tirelessly and performed well throughout, delivering a good race
car to both drivers. We were unfortunate today and deserved better.
However, we did a lot of things well and can be pleased with our work
this week. We will be back in two-weeks’ time for the final events of
the season, starting with the challenge of the awesome new circuit in
Jeddah in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia." |
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Track: Losail International Circuit, Qatar
Lap Length: 5.38 km / 3.342 miles |
Weather: Warm & dry conditions
Temperature: Air: 26°C Track: 28-30°C |
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POS |
DRIVER |
TEAM |
Time (Fastest Lap) |
Grid |
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1 |
L. Hamilton |
Mercedes |
1:24:28.471 (1:25.084) |
1 |
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2 |
M. Verstappen |
Red Bull |
+25.743 (1:23.196) |
7 |
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3 |
F. Alonso |
Alpine |
+59.457 (1:26.682) |
3 |
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17 |
G RUSSELL |
Williams Racing |
+2 LAPS (1:25.768) |
15 |
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DNF |
N LATIFI |
Williams Racing |
= |
17 |
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