Brazilian GP: Williams struggles in FP3


Nico Hulkenberg

By Andrew Hooper
November 6 2010

With the final practice session for the 2010 Brazilian GRand Prix affected by showers the AT&T Williams team would see its drivers only manage tenth and fourteenth, with Rubens Barrichello leading team-mate Nico Hulkenberg. It was an uncertain result for the team given the changing track conditions. Now it will come down to what the weather will do come qualifying.

 
 Brazilian GP Saturday Practice
 

After the sunshine of Friday Saturday would see the rain fall at the Interlagos circuit but it would only be light, as the cars took to the track for the final practice session for the 2010 Brazilian Grand Prix. The track had been declared wet and as the cars came round for their installation laps there would be plumes of spray coming off the cars. Nico Hulkenberg would be the first of the AT&T Williams cars to take to the track shortly after followed by team-mate Rubens Barrichello. The last driver to come out was Schumacher with the majority of the drivers out on full wets. Massa was trying the intermediate tyre on his lap as everyone returned to the pits leaving the track empty.

Barrichello HelmetWith ten minutes of the hour long session completed Glock would be the only driver out on the track. He would be joined by Heidfeld as Glock completed his lap to set a time of 1m:25.972. Other drivers including Nico, Kubica, Petrov, and Kovalainen had also left the pits. Glock would improve with a 1m:24.642 while Heidfeld set a slow 1m:31.815. Both Torro Rosso cars were out on the track joined by Rubens, Kobayashi, Trulli, and Di Grassi. Heidfeld would go fastest with a 1m:23.897 as Glock pitted. Nico would go second with a 1m:24.026 followed by Glock, Kovalainen, and Petrov. Heidfeld would improve with a 1m:23.293. We had yet to see either McLaren, Ferrari, or Red Bull cars. Rubens had moved up to fourth, 1m:24.649, but he would drop to sixth as Buemi went fastest with a 1m:23.171. On his next lap Rubens would go to the top of the times with a 1m:22.612 but Nico, Petrov, and Buemi would all go faster.

Nico was now fastest with a 1m:21.976 from Petrov and Buemi. Alguersuari was in fifth as more drivers tried the intermediate tyre. Nico was on of them as Hamilton left the pit lane also on the intermediate tyre. Rubens was on the full wet tyre as Nico would improve with a 1m:21.277. Rubens was now third with a 1m:22.219 as we now had both McLaren's, Ferrari's, and Red Bull cars out. Massa was up to fifth with a 1m:22.399. Sutil was now in sixth as the rain started to fall harder while Rubens would pit. Nico would go even faster with a 1m:20.535 while Webber would move up to second followed by Hamilton, Button, and Vettel in fifth. Schumacher was now sixth from Petrov and Rubens.

Hamilton would improve to be second, 1m:20.688, as Nico pitted. Webber and Alonso would both improve with Alonso going fastest with a 1m:20.200 and Webber second with a 1m:20.337. Nico was still third from Hamilton, Button, Vettel, Schumacher, Petrov, Rosberg, and Rubens in tenth. Alguersuari would move up to sixth while Schumacher had moved up to fifth. Button was now sixth as Webber pitted. Vettel was back out while Schumacher pitted. Rosberg was now in eighth seeing Vettel drop to ninth. Alonso would improve with a 1m:19.791 to remain fastest while Hamilton would move up to second, 1m:19.912. Nico was now fourth while Buemi jumped up to fifth. This would become sixth when Rosberg moved up to fourth, 1m:20.408. Vettel would find some time moving up to seventh but Massa would take this spot. Nico had dropped to sixth while Rubens was down in sixteenth and still in the pits.

Kubica, having not set a time, would put in a 1m:20.629 to be seventh. Massa was now fastest with a 1m:19.735. Alonso and Hamilton had both pitted. Vettel was now in fourth, 1m:20.11, while Buemi was now fifth. Nico was now in eighth while Rubens had returned to the track. Webber was now sixth and Rosberg seventh. Kubica was now in fifth, 1m:20.078, while Button was down in thirteenth. Kobayashi was up to tenth, 1m:20.572, as Rubens was on an improved lap while Buemi move dup to fifth, 1m:20.009. There was twenty three minutes remaining as Vettel went fastest with a 1m:19.550 to be 0.235 ahead of Massa. Rubens had found time to improve to be twelfth, 1m:20.622. Nico was out of his car and up on the pit wall taking to his engineer.

Vettel would pit while Rubens would find more time jumping from thirteenth to seventh, 1m:20.320. Nico was now in tenth, 1m:20.535. At McLaren Hamilton's rear wing was been changed so that the team could try a lower downforce setup. Seventeenth placed Button was out on the track also coming out on the intermediate tyre. There was now just five cars on the track with seventeen minutes remaining. Schumacher was now in tenth, 1m:20.421, while Button would move up to fifteenth. Button was able to improve to move up to seventh, 1m:20.164. Rubens was now eighth and Nico twelfth. Kubica was back out along with Heidfeld. But the track was still very quite as Button pitted. Ten minutes remaining and Hamilton also came out joined by Buemi, Petrov, Glock, and Klien. Kubica had pitted while Hamilton would improve to be second, 1m:19.536.

More drivers were starting to come out as the final four minutes commenced. Both Williams cars were still in their pits along with the two Ferrari's and Red Bull cars. Kubica was now in fourth, 1m:19.761, while Vettel returned to the track. Kubica was now fastest with a 1m:19.191. Nico had now left the pit lane but Rubens remained in the pits. Webber also remained in his pit as the session came to an end. Nico was now in fourteenth and Rubens tenth. The top ten was Kubica followed by Vettel, Hamilton, Massa, Alonso, Petrov, Buemi, Rosberg, Button, and Rubens in tenth. It was somewhat odd as to why the team waited so long to send Nico back out when he did not complete another timed lap. The reason why Rubens did not come back out was that he had a problem with his car that his mechanics were investigating.

 
Pos  Driver         Team		     Time      Laps
 1.  Kubica         Renault                  1:19.191  16
 2.  Vettel         Red Bull-Renault         1:19.500  16
 3.  Hamilton       McLaren-Mercedes         1:19.536  18
 4.  Massa          Ferrari                  1:19.735  9
 5.  Alonso         Ferrari                  1:19.791  9
 6.  Petrov         Renault                  1:19.887  22
 7.  Buemi          Toro Rosso-Ferrari       1:20.009  24
 8.  Rosberg        Mercedes                 1:20.056  13
 9.  Button         McLaren-Mercedes         1:20.164  24
10.  Barrichello    AT&T Williams-Cosworth   1:20.320  13
11.  Webber         Red Bull-Renault         1:20.337  6
12.  Schumacher     Mercedes                 1:20.421  18
13.  Kobayashi      Sauber-Ferrari           1:20.452  21
14.  Hulkenberg     AT&T Williams-Cosworth   1:20.535  12
15.  Alguersuari    Toro Rosso-Ferrari       1:20.541  26
16.  Liuzzi         Force India-Mercedes     1:20.546  19
17.  Sutil          Force India-Mercedes     1:20.613  19
18.  Heidfeld       Sauber-Ferrari           1:20.985  25
19.  Trulli         Lotus-Cosworth           1:22.326  17
20.  Glock          Virgin-Cosworth          1:22.449  26
21.  Kovalainen     Lotus-Cosworth           1:22.874  20
22.  di Grassi      Virgin-Cosworth          1:23.194  21
23.  Senna          HRT-Cosworth             1:23.358  20
24.  Klien          HRT-Cosworth             1:23.650  19
 

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Brazilian GP: Williams struggles in FP3
Discussion started by Williams F1 , 06/11/2010 14:35
Williams F1
06/11/2010 14:35
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Francesc
06/11/2010 15:29
I don't think Williams struggled

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