Bahrain GP: Bottas 5th for Williams Martini in FP2


By Andrew Hooper
April 17 2015

The second Friday practice session for the 2015 Bahrain GP would again see Williams Martini driver Valtteri Bottas leading team-mate Felipe Massa. Valtteri would finish 5th and Felipe 10th. The early part of the session would see both drivers complete longer runs on the medium tyre as well as further aero testing including front wing changes. Late in the session both drivers would compleet soft tyre runs.

 
  Williams Martini Bahrain GP Friday 2nd Practice
 
Bottas
 

Team Summary:
With the lights on the second Friday practice session would commence with the Williams cars of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas out first. Both drivers were again on the medium tyre with their first laps seeing Valtteri fastest from Felipe. But Raikkonen would go fastest with a 1m:37.537. Both drivers would continue to put in laps but would drop down the times as others went faster. Hamilton was now fastest with a 1m:36.795. With Felipe ahead of Valtteri they had dropped to sixth and seventh. Both Williams drivers would pit having completed ten laps each on the medium tyre. Both drivers would return after having made nose changes. First out on the soft tyre was Raikkonen.

The Williams pair were now seventh and eighth with an hour and five minutes remaining. Raikkonen would set a 1m:35.512 to be quickest from Hamilton and Vettel. Vettel was also on the soft tyre. Valtteri and Felipe were now ninth and tenth as others also used the soft tyre. Vettel would set a 1m:35.277 to be second behind Raikkonen with the quickest time now 1m:35.174. As the Williams pair continued their longer run on the medium tyre they had dropped to tenth and eleventh with Valtteri still quickest. The top six were all on the soft tyre. Both Williams cars with fifty five minutes remaining were back in their pits. Hamilton had gone quickest with a 1m:34.762 but Rosberg would go quicker with a 1m:34.647.

It was confirmed that the Williams drivers had done back to back testing of aerodynamic components, involving front wing changes. Next came their soft tyre runs with Valtteri ending fifth and Felipe eighth. Felipe would drop to tenth as others went quicker. With thirty minutes remaining both Williams drivers were back out still on the soft tyre. In the final part of the session the Williams drivers were on longer runs. Both drivers were setting times in the 1m:40s with Valtteri quicker by a few tenths. The session would end with Valtteri and Felipe still fifth and tenth.

Felipe Massa:
With sparks coming out from under his car Felipe would start his first timed lap. He would finish with a 1m:38.541, only to be passed by Valtteri. Felipe would drop to sixth also coming in for a front wing change. Felipe would set a 1m:38.086 to be ahead of Valtteri. But Valtteri would improve seeing Felipe now seventh. Felipe would pit briefly taking on a new front wing to continue his run on the medium tyre. With just under fifty minutes remaining Felipe would come back out on the soft tyre. Felipe's first lap was a 1m:35.884 to be seventh. He would drop to eighth and would pit, 1.2 seconds behind the quickest time. At the end of the session Felipe would finish in tenth 0.604 behind his team-mate.

Valtteri Bottas:
Valtteri would follow his team-mate on his first timed lap. He would complete his lap setting a 1m:38.540 to be just 0.001 ahead of Felipe. Valtteri would pit briefly after five laps seeing the team make adjustments to the front of his car. Valtteri was currently fourth but would drop to fifth and then sixth as Felipe moved ahead of him. Valtteri's time had improved with a 1m:38.213. Valtteri would lower his time with a 1m:37.672 to be sixth. Like Felipe Valtteri had also pitted briefly returning back to the track. Valtteri had also changed his front wing. Having pitted Valtteri would also swap to the soft tyre coming back out joining Felipe. Valtteri's first lap was a 1m:35.280 on the soft tyre. He would pit after a handful of laps on the soft tyre. Valtteri would continue to lock his right front going into Turn ten. After his soft tyre runs Valtetri would finish the session in fifth.

 
Queue for front wing chnages
 

Pos  Driver         	Team		        Time     Laps
1  Nico Rosberg		Mercedes		1m34.647s 31
2  Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes		1m34.762s 33
3  Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari			1m35.174s 30
4  Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari			1m35.277s 26
5  Valtteri Bottas	Williams/Mercedes	1m35.280s 36
6  Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull/Renault	1m35.449s 27
7  Pastor Maldonado	Lotus/Mercedes		1m35.474s 34
8  Felipe Nasr		Sauber/Ferrari		1m35.793s 27
9  Daniil Kvyat		Red Bull/Renault	1m35.883s 23
10 Felipe Massa		Williams/Mercedes	1m35.884s 35
11 Marcus Ericsson	Sauber/Ferrari		1m36.148s 34
12 Fernando Alonso	McLaren/Honda		1m36.191s 22
13 Romain Grosjean	Lotus/Mercedes		1m36.334s 31
14 Carlos Sainz		Toro Rosso/Renault	1m36.471s 32
15 Nico Hulkenberg	Force India/Mercedes	1m36.805s 30
16 Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso/Renault	1m36.917s 26
17 Sergio Perez		Force India/Mercedes	1m37.062s 33
18 Will Stevens		Marussia/Ferrari	1m39.131s 21
19 Jenson Button	McLaren/Honda		1m39.209s 15
20 Roberto Merhi	Marussia/Ferrari	1m40.592s 26
 
Massa Pit stop
 

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Bahrain GP: Bottas 5th for Williams Martini in FP2
Discussion started by Williams F1 , 17/04/2015 17:49
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