The final practice session for the 2014 United States GP would see Williams Martini drivers Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas finish 3rd and 4th in what was a very encouraging session for the team. Despite this they were still a considerable margin behind the leading Mercedes pair as they prepare for qualifying.
United States GP Saturday
Practice
The final Saturday practice
session for the Williams Martini team would see both Felipe Massa and
Valtteri Bottas running and in the early part of the session Felipe would
set the quickest time, 1m:39.820. Valtteri's first timed alp would see him
fourth but his next lap would see him improve to be third with Ricciardo
second, splitting the Williams pair. But Ricciardo would move ahead of Massa
with a 1m:39.693 while for Valtteri he would set the fastest times in the
first two sectors but would finish the lap in second with a 1m:39.798. With
this the Williams team was second and third while in fourth was Alonso. But
yet to set a time were both of the Mercedes cars but Hamilton would finally
set a 1m:40.064 to be fourth. Rosberg was still in his pit having returned
without setting a time with an issue with his car.
With twenty minutes remaining the order was Ricciardo from Valtteri, Felipe,
Alonso, Hamilton, Kvyat, Grosjean, Raikkonen, Button, and Maldonado tenth.
Rosberg would return to the track but would set a slow 1m:47.636. Hamilton
had spun at Turn twelve while for Williams Valtteri had pitted. Both
Williams drivers had yet to use the soft option tyre but with fifteen
minutes of the session remaining the track would clear and it would be
Alonso who would return running on the soft tyre with Rosberg following him
out moments later. Rosberg was currently in second last place with Vettel
slowest. But Vettel was focusing on race times having been forced to start
the race from the pits due to exceeding his engine unit allocation. Valtteri
was also out on the soft tyre along with Raikkonen.
Using the soft tyres Alonso was able to move to the top of the times with a
1m:39.108 as Rosberg pitted. Valtteri would start his quick lap and would
set a 1m:38.437 to be 0.7 ahead of Alonso. Grosjean would improve to be
fifth with Raikkonen now third just off his team-mates time. Felipe was also
out on the soft tyre with just three cars still in their pits. Felipe was
able to set a 1m:38.214 to move ahead of Valtteri and be quickest. But
Hamilton would show that the Mercedes were the ones to catch setting a
1m:37.107 to be ahead of Felipe by 1.1 seconds. Sutil was now in sixth,
1m:39.000, to be behind Hulkenberg. With four minutes remaining the Williams
team had their cars second and third but Rosberg was on a quicker lap having
sorted out his issues. Ricciardo was now fifth but this would become sixth
as Rosberg went second with a time of 1m:37.991. This was still 0.884 behind
his team-mate Hamilton as both Williams drivers pitted.
It was reported that Rosberg's issue was a glazed brake disc. The Williams'
pair stops would be brief with both returning to the track having carried
out practice pit stops. Rosberg was on a better lap but still well off the
pace set by Hamilton. With the end of the session Rosberg would fail to
improve as the drivers returned back to their pits. So with the end of the
session the order was Hamilton from Rosberg, Felipe, Valtteri, Alonso,
Ricciardo, Hulkenberg, Sutil, Raikkonen, and Button in tenth. A very
encouraging session for the Williams team but Felipe and Valtteri were over
a second behind the quickest time.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:37.107 13
2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:37.990 15
3 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1:38.214 19
4 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1:38.437 20
5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:38.727 13
6 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 1:38.927 16
7 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1:38.960 20
8 Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 1:39.000 22
9 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:39.143 17
10 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:39.241 22
11 Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 1:39.335 19
12 Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault 1:39.448 18
13 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1:39.561 21
14 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1:39.582 21
15 Daniil Kvyat STR-Renault 1:39.688 19
16 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1:40.208 22
17 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Renault 1:41.443 12
18 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:43.765 25
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