Styrian GP: William Racing FP1 a frustrating session
By Andrew Hooper
July 10 2020
The opening Friday practice session for the Styrian GP would be a productive but also frustrating session for the Williams Racing Team. Very early on the team would lose Nicholas Latifi with what was later confirmed to be a gearbox issue. Nicholas would get very little track time in the session which was not a great start to the weekend. Reserve driver Jack Aitken would be taking over George Russell's car for the session and he would finish in 17th in what was a productive session for the rookie completing runs on both the soft and medium tyre. Overall his performance in the car was note worthy making his sure brought the car back in one piece.
Williams Racing Styrian GP Friday 1st Practice
Team Summary:
The opening Friday practice session for the Styrian Grand Prix would see
Williams Racing Reserve driver Jack Aitkin take over the seat of George
Russell. Another reserve driver making an appearance is Robert Kubica taking
the drive from Giovinazzi in this session. The session would commence with
drivers coming out on a mix of tyres. Both Williams drivers would complete
installation laps. The first lap time would be a 1m:07.190 from Sainz on the
hard tyre. A 1m:06.817 from Sainz with Albon second. Albon would go quicker
with a 1m:06.344 and a 1m:06.330. More drivers would be setting times with
Norris now third followed by Bottas and Leclerc.
With twenty minutes completed both Williams cars would return to the track.
Both Williams drivers would set timed laps with the pair slowest. The
session would be red flagged as a result of the Williams of Nicholas
stopping on the side of the track and not been able to be recovered. The top
ten was Verstappen, Albon, Sainz, Norris, Leclerc, Bottas, Ocon, Perez,
Hamilton, and Gasly. The session would be restarted with fifty five minutes
remaining. Verstappen would improve with a 1m:05.586. Perez was now second
but Leclerc would move ahead as the track emptied with the session half
completed. Drivers started to return and Hamilton would go quickest with a
1m:05.208 followed now by Bottas and Verstappen.
Perez was now quickest using the soft tyre with a 1m:04.867 followed by
Bottas, Hamilton and Stroll. Sainz was now fifth followed by Albon, Gasly,
Verstappen, Ricciardo, and Vettel tenth. Jack was currently 17th. Verstappen
was able to move in to second running on the soft tyre. Fifteen minutes
remaining and Jack was back out. In the final runs Sainz was able to move
into seventh ahead of Gasly, Ricciardo, and Vettel tenth. The Williams
drivers would finish in 17th and 19th in what was a productive if also
frustrating session what having lost Nicholas early in the session.
Jack Aitken:
Jack would be first out for Williams running on the soft tyre. he would pit
after one installation lap. Jack would return to the track for his first
timed run again on the soft tyre. Jack would set a 1m:11.540 on his first
lap biut would improve with a 1m:09.604. He would return with the session
restart again on the soft tyre and would improve with a 1m:09.256. He would
lower his time to a 1m:08.222 and would pit after a five lap run. Jack would
return for a further run this time on the medium tyre. He would improve with
a 1m:081.77 followed by a 1m:07.421. Another improvement with a 1m:06.768.
He would pit after a nine lap run currently 17th. He was 1.9s behind the
quickest time. Twelve minutes remaining and Jack was back out again on the
medium tyre. He would complete his run prior to the end of the session
finishing in 17th.
Nichols Latifi:
Nicholas would join his team-mate out for his first run coming out on the
shard tyre. He would just complete a single lap. Nicholas would also come
out for his first timed laps. Nicholas would set a 1m:12.201 on his first
lap. He would improve with a 1m:09.598 but Nicholas would stop on the side
of the track with an engine issue. Nicholas would say "I think the engine
just went - something happened" His car would be recovered as Nicholas would
return back to the pits. It was confirmed by the team that it was a gearbox
issue that brought Nicholas's car to a halt.
Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.
We record all IP addresses on the Sportnetwork message boards which may be required by the authorities in case of defamatory or abusive comment.
We seek to monitor the Message Boards at regular intervals.
We do not associate Sportnetwork with any of the comments and do not take responsibility for any statements or opinions expressed on the Message Boards.
If you have any cause for concern over any material posted here please let us know as soon as possible by e-mailing
abuse@sportnetwork.net