The final practice session for the 2016 European GP would be a frustrating time for the Williams Martini team with Felipe Massa only finishing in 14th while team-mate Valtteri Bottas not setting a time after having his car badly damaged when a lose drain cover would fly up and hit the underneath of his car. THis would see a significant amount of damage with the damage being so major that the team would announce that Valtteri would not be returning to the track.
Williams
Martini European GP Saturday Practice
Team Summary:
The final practice session would start with both cars coming out for their
installation laps but Valtteri would suffer damage to his car when he
returned to the pit lane when a drain cover would come up hitting the
underneath. He would return to his garage and it was announced by the team
that he would not return to the track such was the damage. For Felipe Massa
he would set an early time but would drop down the order and then would have
to pit when he made contact with the wall. Upon his return he would move up
to sixth and then fourth running on the supersoft tyre.
With forty minutes of the session completed Rosberg would be quickest with a
1m:45.435 followed by Hamilton and Vettel. Felipe was fourth followed by
Ricciardo, Hulkenberg, Button, Kvyat, Perez and Verstappen tenth. With
fifteen minutes remaining Felipe had dropped to fifth then seventh to be
behind Verstappen. Rosberg was out on a quick lap setting the fastest time
in the first two sectors. He would finish with a 1m:44.610 to remain
fastest. Felipe was now eleventh as more drivers set quicker times.
Hulkenberg was now second behind Rosberg. As the session drew to a close
Felipe would be fourteenth as Hamilton went fastest in sector one. He would
finish with a 1m:44.352 to be quickest with Rosberg second. Right at the end
of the session Perez would hit the wall at the same place Ricciardo had his
accident on Friday.
The final order for the top ten was Hamilton, Rosberg, Hulkenberg,
Ricciardo, Vettel, Perez, Verstappen, Button, Kvyat and Raikkonen. For
Williams the session really did not give any real indication how things will
go in qualifying what with the damage to Valtteri's car and again Felipe
seemed to struggle for pace but he his day that the car did feel better and
it appeared that his was focusing on a longer run.
Felipe Massa:
For Felipe he would go out running on the supersoft tyre and would set a
time of 1m:48.346 and his first run would see him complete seven laps prior
to pitting. But Felipe would also make contact with an object this time it
was when he had oversteer in his car and would touch the wall. He would pit
as a result to have his car checked. All would be OK with Felipe's car and
up on his return he would set a 1m:46.755 to be sixth. His next run was a
1m:46.510 to move up to fourth. He would pit having completed six laps.
Felipe would say that his car "feels much better now" and was again talking
to his engineer on how to make further improvements. Felipe would drop to
fifth then seventh as he returned to the track. Felipe would continue to
drop down the times as he continued running on a set of used supersoft
tyres. He was now twelfth with seven minutes remaining. This would be come
fourteenth but Felipe was on a long run on the supersoft tyre.
Valtteri Bottas:
Valtteri would take to the track with the start of the session running on
the medium tyre but upon his return his car would go over a drain cover that
was lose and this would damage his car. Valtteri had yet to set a time and
had only completed three laps. "I think some drain cover or something came
up in the pitlane, have a look at the car," would say Valtteri. There was a
lot of work for the Williams team to repair his car and it was not looking
good for his return. The team would announce that such was the damage that
Valtteri would not be coming back out.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m44.352s 17
2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m44.610s 22
3 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m45.540s 18
4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 1m45.620s 13
5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m45.630s 20
6 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1m45.735s 17
7 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Renault 1m45.901s 14
8 Jenson Button McLaren-Honda 1m45.954s 17
9 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m45.981s 19
10 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m46.024s 16
11 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Honda 1m46.131s 16
12 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m46.190s 17
13 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 1m46.361s 21
14 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1m46.510s 20
15 Esteban Gutierrez Haas-Ferrari 1m46.670s 21
16 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1m47.024s 16
17 Pascal Wehrlein Manor-Mercedes 1m47.100s 19
18 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1m47.158s 18
19 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari 1m47.328s 14
20 Felipe Nasr Sauber-Ferrari 1m47.379s 18
21 Rio Haryanto Manor-Mercedes 1m47.556s 18
22 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes - 1
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