Abu Dhabi GP: Encouraging FP2 for Williams


Pastor Maldonado

By Andrew Hooper
November 2 2012

Again the Williams F1 team would come away with an encouraging result after the second Friday practice for the 2012 Abu Dhabi GP. Pastor Maldonado would finish in ninth while Bruno Senna ws eleventh.

 
 Abu Dhabi GP Friday 2nd Practice
 
Senna
 
The second Friday practice session for the 2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix would see a rush of drivers taking to the track all looking to set lap times very quickly. First to set a time would be Perez with a 1m:45.819 but the times would change rapidly. With five minutes of the session completed it would be Vettel fastest with a 1m:43.067 from Raikkonen and Grosjean. Perez was now fourth while for Williams Pastor Maldonado would be fifth with a 1m:45.179. Team-mate Bruno Senna, replacing Valtteri Bottas, was down in eighth with a time of 1m:45.455. Bruno was running with a new helmet colour in line with one of his sponsors Gillette. Vettel's first lap time was 1m:43.323 but his next lap would see him improve but as he continued to put in the laps he would improve to set a time of 1m:42.779. With the session being run late in the afternoon the cooler conditions were certainly helping. Schumacher was now third with a 1m:44.339 from Grosjean, Hulkenberg, with Bruno improving from outside the top ten to be sixth, 1m:44.485.

Pastor was now eighth with a 1m:44.649 with only Raikkonen back in the pits. Now it was Button's turn to move up the times setting a 1m:42.804 to be second. Webber was now third from Grosjean and Massa. Bruno had dropped to ninth and had pitted . Pastor was now in twelfth while at the front Hamilton would move up to second with a 1m:42.790, seeing Button now third. Vettel and Button would pit as Rosberg moved up to sixth with a 1m:43.838. Pastor had also pitted after setting a 1m:44.324 to be ahead of Bruno. The pair were now thirteenth and fourteenth. Alonso was up to seventh, 1m:43.897, while Hamilton was second but with a 1m:42.790 to be just 0.060 behind Vettel. Alonso would improve to be fourth, 1m:43.067, with most of the field back in their pits after their first runs. Bruno was quickly back out as the sun started to set. In the early stages the medium tyre was the tyre of choice.

Raikkonen and Di Resta were back out while Bruno was still on the medium tyre. Bruno would set a 1m:44.268 to go thirteenth and one place ahead of Pastor. Button would return to the track joined by Rosberg. Hamilton was on a quick lap going fastest in sector one and two. He would finish his lap with a 1m:42.095 to be 0.635 ahead of Vettel. Bruno would continue to improve setting a 1m:44.012 followed by a 1m:43.751 to be seventh. Pastor was now also back out along with more drivers. Both Red Bull's were back out on the track with just over an hour remaining. Pastor was now fourteenth. After his second run Bruno would pit with only a handful of drivers still in their pits. Rosberg was now tenth, 1m:43.838, but would improve to be eighth. Webber would improve to be fourth, 1m:42.925, while Vergne would be the first driver to try the soft tyre. Bruno had dropped to eleventh and was back out.

Schumacher would improve to be sixth with a 1m:43.484. Vettel would set a 1m:42,622 to close the gap to Hamilton. With the sun falling the track lights would start to take over as Massa moved up to sixth with a 1m:43.211. Pastor had pitted while Bruno continued his run. The track was again fairly quite as drivers returned to their pits. The top ten were all back in their pits with fifty minutes remaining. Perez was out running on the soft tyre while Bruno would improve to be seventh with a 1m:43.479 pitting again having set his time. Button would leave the pit lane for his next run joined by Button who was on the soft tyre. Pastor would also come out joining other drivers running on the soft. Webber, Hamilton, and Grosjean were also on the soft tyre as Rosberg set a 1m:43.200 to be sixth also on the soft tyre. Bruno had dropped to ninth as Hamilton went fastest in sector three. Grosjean would use his soft tyres to good effect setting a 1m:42.500 to be second.

Vergne had pitted with what was brake problems as Button set a 1m:42.412 to be second. Vettel was also on a quicker lap setting a1m:42.056 having gone fastest in sector three. Pastor was also on a quicker lap setting a 1m:43.566 to be thirteenth. Alonso would also find improvements going fifth with a 1m:42.806. Hulkenberg was now tenth as Vettel set a 1m:41.751 to be fastest by 0.344 seconds. Massa would improve to be sixth while Pastor would set a 1m:42.998 to be eighth. Bruno was back out on the track running on the soft tyre down in thirteenth. Hamilton had again improved with a 1m:41.919 closing the gap to Vettel. After his run Pastor would pit with thirty minutes remaining. Button would return to the track joined by Grosjean. Bruno would improve with a 1m:43.191 to be tenth. On the softer tyre Raikkonen would set a 1m:42.532 to be sixth, while Grosjean was in fifth.

Pastor would join Bruno put on the track looking to complete a longer run. Webber would pit getting out of his car with ten minutes remaining. Seven minutes remaining and there were just two drivers still in the pits. Pastor and Bruno were now ninth and eleventh. As the final minutes counted down only Webber was in the pits. Webber had stopped with a fluid leak issue with his car seeing his mechanics start to work on his car. As the session ended it was Vettel fastest from Hamilton, Button, Webber, Grosjean, Raikkonen, Alonso, Massa, Pastor, and Perez tenth. Bruno was eleventh with both Williams drivers closing the gap to those at the front. Again another encouraging session for the Williams F1 team.
 
Senna
  
Pos  Driver         	 Team		       Time      Laps
 1.  Sebastian Vettel    Red Bull-Renault      1m41.751  33
 2.  Lewis Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      1m41.919s 33
 3.  Jenson Button       McLaren-Mercedes      1m42.412s 35
 4.  Mark Webber         Red Bull-Renault      1m42.466s 21
 5.  Romain Grosjean     Lotus-Renault         1m42.500s 33
 6.  Kimi Raikkonen      Lotus-Renault         1m42.532s 27
 7.  Fernando Alonso     Ferrari               1m42.587s 30
 8.  Felipe Massa        Ferrari               1m42.823s 32
 9.  Pastor Maldonado    Williams-Renault      1m42.998s 36
10.  Sergio Perez        Sauber-Ferrari        1m43.106s 35
11.  Bruno Senna         Williams-Renault      1m43.191s 33
12.  Nico Rosberg        Mercedes              1m43.200s 35
13.  Nico Hulkenberg     Force India-Mercedes  1m43.255s 33
14.  Michael Schumacher  Mercedes              1m43.267s 31
15.  Paul di Resta       Force India-Mercedes  1m43.578s 33
16.  Kamui Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari        1m43.689s 31
17.  Daniel Ricciardo    Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m44.260s 26
18.  Jean-Eric Vergne    Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m45.073s 18
19.  Vitaly Petrov       Caterham-Renault      1m45.245s 35
20.  Heikki Kovalainen   Caterham-Renault      1m45.782s 32
21.  Timo Glock          Marussia-Cosworth     1m46.589s 34
22.  Charles Pic         Marussia-Cosworth     1m46.671s 30
23.  Pedro de la Rosa    HRT-Cosworth          1m46.707s 25
24.  Narain Karthikeyan  HRT-Cosworth          1m47.406s 34
 

Bookmark or share this story with:

Abu Dhabi GP: Encouraging FP2 for Williams
Discussion started by Williams F1 , 02/11/2012 14:49
Williams F1
02/11/2012 14:49
What do you think? You can have your say by posting below.
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.

Reply Quote Report
Goto: Forum List•Message List•Search• Log In
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