Russian GP: Encouraging start for Williams Martini in FP1
By Andrew Hooper
April 29 2016
The opening Friday practice for the 2016 Russian GP would see the Williams Martini team make an encouraging start to the weekend. Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas would finish the session in 5th and 7th. Both drivers would set their times on the supersoft tyre. The only major issue of the session was a clutch issue for Felipe which would delay his return to the track.
Williams
Martini Russian GP Friday 1st Practice
Team Summary:
With the beginning of the session Felipe Massa would complete his
installation lap but would then have to sit in his garage while the team
fixed a clutch related issue on his car. Team-mate Valtteri Bottas was able
to go out early and start his programme running very early on the supersoft
tyre. While Felipe waited in his pit Valtteri was able to move up to third
prior to pitting. His next run would again be on supersoft tyres seeing him
finally finish in seventh while team-mate Felipe was able to finally return
to the track also going out on the supersoft tyre. He would finish the
session in fifth. An encouraging start for both drivers but they both were
over a second off the quickest time set by Rosberg, a 1m:38.127. Both cars
would be running Rexona logos specific to Russia.
Felipe Massa:
Felipe would be the last to come out for his installation lap. But the
Williams team would report that Felipe had a clutch issue with his car
keeping in his garage. With an hour remaining Felipe had yet to set a time.
As the session progressed it would not be until twenty minutes remaining in
the session that Felipe would return to the track. His first run was
straight onto the supersoft tyre and into ninth. As he continued his run he
would take to the run-off area at Turn Two. His next run would see him move
up to seventh still on the supersoft tyres. As the session drew to a close
Felipe would continue to improve moving up to fourth. With the final minutes
Felipe would drop to fifth behind Raikkonen, ending the session in the same
position.
Valtteri Bottas:
Valtteri would come out early in the session completing his installation lap
commenting to the team that the track was quite dusty. On his first run
Valtteri would move up to third with a 1m:41.465. With thirty minutes
remaining he was in fifth behind Kvyat. His next run would be on supersofts
setting a 1m:39.860 to again be third behind the Mercedes. Forty minutes
into the session and Valtteri was quickest through the speed trap. Despite
this Valtteri was still 0.7 off the quickest time. Ricciardo was able to
move past Valtteri seeing the Williams driver drop to fifth. This would
become sixth when Raikkonen would move ahead and into fifth. With his
team-mate moving into fifth Valtteri would finally finish the session in
seventh.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m38.127s 32
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m38.849s 31
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m39.175s 19
4 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m39.332s 18
5 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1m39.365s 14
6 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-TAG Heuer 1m39.650s 24
7 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1m39.802s 34
8 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull-TAG Heuer 1m40.218s 26
9 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1m40.287s 22
10 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m40.654s 21
11 Jenson Button McLaren-Honda 1m40.663s 19
12 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Honda 1m40.771s 18
13 Sergey Sirotkin Renault 1m40.898s 24
14 Felipe Nasr Sauber-Ferrari 1m41.085s 21
15 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m41.134s 22
16 Esteban Gutierrez Haas-Ferrari 1m41.238s 18
17 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 1m41.385s 20
18 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1m41.671s 25
19 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari 1m41.962s 22
20 Pascal Wehrlein Manor-Mercedes 1m42.483s 21
21 Rio Haryanto Manor-Mercedes 1m42.687s 8
22 Alfonso Celis Force India-Mercedes 1m43.432s 23
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