Malaysian GP: Williams drivers remain in top 10 after FP3


By Andrew Hooper
March 29 2014

the final practice session for the 2014 Malaysian GP would see the Williams Martini team retain their top ten results with Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas finish in 8th and 9th. Both drivers would focus on longer runs on the hard tyre only changing to the medium late in the session.

 
 Malaysian GP Saturday Practice
 
Massa
 

The practice sessions leading up to Saturday's practice would see both Williams Martini cars being in the top ten in both FP1 and FP2. In the second session Felipe Massa would finish in sixth and Valtteri Bottas in ninth. There was a lot of discussion in regard to tyre degradation as the Saturday practice session got underway. Ericsson would be first out in his Caterham. Plenty of cars would come out with Felipe first out for Williams. Valtteri would follow him moments later as drivers started to pit after their installation lap. Both Felipe and Valtteri were out on the hard tyre Both Williams cars would also pit with everyone except for the Red Bull cars having come out. But both Red Bull cars would leave the pits followed by Maldonado and Grosjean in their Lotus cars. Lotus had struggled on Friday getting little track time as Ericsson came out. Sutil was next out joined by Chilton and Kobayashi.

A 1m:49.882 from Maldonado as Gutierrez came back out. Felipe would be the first out for Williams followed shortly after by Kvyat. Maldonado would improve with a 1m:45.211 as Ericsson set a 1m:47.302. Kobayashi would move into second with a 1m:46.015 with Sutil now fourth. Vergne and Raikkonen were next out as Maldonado set a 1m:44.622 with Chilton now second, 1m:45.528. More drivers were coming out including Alonso, Perez, Hulkenberg, and Rosberg. Felipe would go fastest with a 1m:42.855 with Sutil now second. But Kvyat moved into second with the track now very busy. Gutierrez was now third with Raikkonen on a quick lap. Vergne was now second with a time of 1m:43.307 but Raikkonen would go fastest with a 1m:41.835 seeing Felipe now second, followed by Vergne, Kvyat, Gutierrez, Sutil, and Maldonado eighth.

Valtteri was now out on the track as Magnussen came on his radio saying he had a problem with his engine seeing him slow and pit. Alonso would move into second, 1m:42.293, and Perez third, 1m:42.770. Felipe was now fourth but this would become fifth as Valtteri went second, 1m:42.158. Hamilton would go fastest with a 1m:41.246. But it was changing quickly at the front with Rosberg going quicker with a time of 1m:40.946. Valtteri was now fourth and Felipe eighth. Raikkonen would pit with thirty six minutes remaining in the session. Valtteri had at this time completed six laps and Felipe eight. Everyone was still on the hard tyre as Alonso had also pitted. Hulkenberg was now sixth, 1m:42.520, seeing Felipe ninth. Felipe had pitted as Hamilton went fastest with a 1m:40.552. Everyone was reporting very poor rear grip in the slow corners. The track now only had a handful of cars running including Valtteri.

Grosjean was back out on the track after some aero changes to his car. Valtteri would pit with just over half an hour remaining. Vettel and Ricciardo were out and Vettel would set a 1m:42.496 to be sixth but this would become seventh as Ricciardo set a 1m:42.072 to be fourth. Maldonado was also back out with Grosjean and Maldonado fifteenth and sixteenth. Maldonado was out on the medium tyre as Felipe returned to the track still running on the hard tyre. Magnussen was back out after his problem but had yet to set a time. Valtteri was back out also on the hard tyre joined by several other drivers. Of those cars on the track both Ferrari's were out on the medium tyre with Rosberg being the first back out for Mercedes. Both Ferrari's were on quick laps swapping fastest sectors as Alonso went second with a 1m:40.736. Both Mercedes cars were on the medium tyre with Raikkonen now fastest with a 1m:40.156. Ricciardo and Vettel were now fifth and sixth with Valtteri now seventh and Felipe eleventh.

Rosberg would go fastest with a 1m:39.008 to lead Raikkonen by over a second. Both Williams drivers continued their hard tyre run with Hamilton now third, 1m:40.552. There was fifteen minutes remaining in the session with it being reported that the Williams team would move onto their qualification run in the last ten minutes. Hamilton would improve to be second, 1m:39.240. Rosberg had pitted returning to the hard tyre for his final run. Felipe would pit having completed seven laps in his last run. Hulkenberg and Gutierrez were now eighth and ninth running on the medium tyre. Valtteri would also come in as Rosberg pitted again. Perez was now fifth with a time of 1m:41.029. Gutierrez would improve to be sixth as Ricciardo came back out on the medium tyre. Valtteri and Felipe were now ninth and twelfth. Hulkenberg was now fourth, 1m:40.523, despite locking it up at Turn fifteen.

Valtteri would be first back out for Williams running on the medium tyre with just over six minutes left in the session. Felipe was also back out also on the medium tyre. The track was very busy but both Mercedes cars were still in their pits. Ricciardo would move into fifth with a 1m:40.686 as Hulkenberg pitted. Both McLaren's were at the bottom of the times with both cars having technical issues seeing them not able to come back out. Valtteri would set a 1m:41.135 to now be eighth as Felipe moved up to seventh, 1m:40.781, seeing Valtteri drop to ninth. Vettel would jump into fourth, 1m:40.387, seeing Felipe eighth and Valtteri tenth. Both Williams drivers would slow for their next lap looking to get extra life out of their medium tyres. The session would come to an end with Felipe and Valtteri now eighth and ninth, 1m:40.781 and 1m:40.891. The Williams pair were running quite close together in the final times but one would have felt that the team was hoping for a slightly better result.

 
Bottas
 
Pos  Driver         	Team		      Time      Laps
 1.  Nico Rosberg       Mercedes              1m39.008s  13
 2.  Lewis Hamilton     Mercedes              1m39.240s  13
 3.  Kimi Raikkonen     Ferrari               1m40.156s  13
 4.  Sebastian Vettel   Red Bull-Renault      1m40.387s  14
 5.  Nico Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes  1m40.523s  15
 6.  Daniel Ricciardo   Red Bull-Renault      1m40.686s  14
 7.  Fernando Alonso    Ferrari               1m40.736s  14
 8.  Felipe Massa       Williams-Mercedes     1m40.781s  20
 9.  Valtteri Bottas    Williams-Mercedes     1m40.891s  20
10.  Sergio Perez       Force India-Mercedes  1m41.029s  15
11.  Daniil Kvyat       Toro Rosso-Renault    1m41.182s  18
12.  Jean-Eric Vergne   Toro Rosso-Renault    1m41.441s  18
13.  Adrian Sutil       Sauber-Ferrari        1m41.552s  15
14.  Esteban Gutierrez  Sauber-Ferrari        1m42.041s  17
15.  Romain Grosjean    Lotus-Renault         1m42.749s  16
16.  Pastor Maldonado   Lotus-Renault         1m43.539s  20
17.  Max Chilton        Marussia-Ferrari      1m43.977s  16
18.  Jules Bianchi      Marussia-Ferrari      1m44.170s  18
19.  Marcus Ericsson    Caterham-Renault      1m44.457s  12
20.  Kamui Kobayashi    Caterham-Renault      1m46.015s  7
21.  Jenson Button      McLaren-Mercedes      2m05.555s  4
22.  Kevin Magnussen    McLaren-Mercedes                 5
 
Massa
 

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Malaysian GP: Williams drivers remain in top 10 after FP3
Discussion started by Williams F1 , 29/03/2014 06:36
Williams F1
29/03/2014 06:36
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