Russian GP: Williams Martini focus on longer runs in FP2


By Andrew Hooper
April 29 2016

The second Friday practice session for the 2016 Russian GP would see both Williams Martini drivers complete longer runs on both the soft and supersoft tyres. With the end of the session Valtteri Bottas finish in 6th while team-mate Felipe Massa would finish in 9th. Valtteri would later indicate that there was a possibility of a single stop race but it would come down to the driver and how he could get the best out of the car and tyres.

 
  Williams Martini Russian GP Friday 2nd Practice
 
Bottas
 

Team Summary:
Both Williams Martini drivers would come out for their first runs using the soft tyre. The first quickest time was a 1m:39.326 from Vettel. Vettel would improve with a 1m:38.921 now followed by Rosberg and Raikkonen. After their first runs Valtteri and Felipe were fifth and ninth. Quite a few drivers were using the run-off areas as with twenty minutes of the session completed Valtteri and Felipe were eighth and ninth having set the same time. Both Ferrari's were on the supersoft tyre for their next run. Vettel would go quicker with a 1m:38.235 with Hamilton second followed by Rosberg.

Both Mercedes cars were now on the supersoft tyre as Raikkonen failed to improve on his supersoft run, remaining in fourth. Vettel would stop his car on the pit lane seeing the Virtual Safety Car deployed. He would be pushed back into the pit lane where it would be recovered by his mechanics. The session would go green with both Williams drivers still on the track. After their runs Valtteri and Felipe were now fifth and seventh. Hamilton would go quickest with a 1m:37.583, followed by Vettel and Rosberg. Forty minutes remaining and Valtteri and Felipe were sixth and ninth. Both Williams drivers would come back out still on used supersoft tyres with thirty five minutes remaining.

Both Williams drivers were on a long run on the supersoft tyre. With twenty minutes remaining Valtteri continued lapping on his supersoft tyre while Felipe would changed to the soft tyre. Valtteri would also switch to the soft tyre with both Williams drivers now on a longer run on this tyre type. With the end of the session Valtteri Felipe would remain in sixth and ninth after what was essentially a long tyre run using the two main tyre types.

Felipe Massa:
Felipe would follow his team-mate out also running on the soft tyre. Felipe would set a slow 1m:42.305 having run wide at Turn seven. Felipe would improve with a 1m:41.080 to be eighth. Felipe would drop to ninth courtesy of his team-mate. Felipe would find time setting a 1m:40.174 to be ninth. This would become tenth with Perez ahead of Felipe. Felipe would pit after ten laps on the soft tyre. His next run would see him on the supersoft tyre. Felipe would also find time setting a 1m:39.289 to be seventh. He would pit after five laps. He would drop to eighth as Ricciardo went sixth running on the soft tyre. This would become ninth. Having completed ten laps on the supersoft tyre Felipe would pit returning on a set of used soft tyres. Felipe was also able to set times in the 1m:41s but he was a few tenths off his team-mates times.

Valtteri Bottas:
For Williams Valtteri would be first out running on new soft tyres. Valtteri would also set what seemed like a slow time with a 1m:44.260 to be fourteenth. Like Felipe Valtteri would improve to be fifth with a 1m:40.174. This would become sixth as Kvyat went into fourth. He would drop to eighth with both Williams drivers having set the same time. Valtteri had pitted to take on a new front nose and wing as the team still worked through their comparisons. Valtteri would continue to improve setting a 1m:39.711 to now be seventh. Valtteri would also pit and would also return on the supersoft tyre. Valtteri would set an improved 1m:39.185 to now be fifth. Valtteri would pit currently sixth, having also completed five laps on the supersoft tyre. Valtteri would follow his team-mate also pitting taking on a set of used soft tyres. Valtteri was setting times in the 1m:41s on the soft tyres.

 
Massa
 

Pos  Driver         	Team		        Time     Laps
1  Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes		1m37.583s  30
2  Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari			1m38.235s  10
3  Nico Rosberg		Mercedes		1m38.450s  37
4  Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari			1m38.793s  35
5  Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull-TAG Heuer	1m39.084s  34
6  Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	1m39.185s  42
7  Daniil Kvyat		Red Bull-TAG Heuer	1m39.193s  32
8  Jenson Button	McLaren-Honda		1m39.196s  31
9  Felipe Massa		Williams-Mercedes	1m39.289s  38
10 Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Honda		1m39.400s  30
11 Carlos Sainz		Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1m39.465s  37
12 Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1m39.501s  30
13 Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	1m39.795s  31
14 Sergio Perez		Force India-Mercedes	1m39.867s  38
15 Kevin Magnussen	Renault			1m40.193s  41
16 Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari		1m40.260s  24
17 Esteban Gutierrez	Haas-Ferrari		1m40.508s  26
18 Jolyon Palmer	Renault			1m40.688s  37
19 Felipe Nasr		Sauber-Ferrari		1m40.740s  31
20 Rio Haryanto		Manor-Mercedes		1m41.080s  38
21 Pascal Wehrlein	Manor-Mercedes		1m41.148s  23
22 Marcus Ericsson	Sauber-Ferrari		1m41.652s  29
 
Massa
 

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Russian GP: Williams Martini focus on longer runs in FP2
Discussion started by Williams F1 , 29/04/2016 13:50
Williams F1
29/04/2016 13:50
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