Russian GP: Another tough race for Williams Racing
By Andrew Hooper
September 28 2020
In what would turn out to be another difficult race for the Williams Racing Team their drivers would finish in 16th and 18th with Nicholas Latifi finishing ahead of George Russell. For Nicholas his race was uneventful but it was a race that again saw him suffer difficulties in particular getting his tyres to work. For George his race would see a promising start from 13th on the grid but he would be forced wide at Turn two and would lose places upon returning to the track. With a Safety Car he would pit early switching to the hard tyre and from there it was a difficult race which included a brake lockup while on the hard tyres which forced him to pit again switching to the mediums. Overall a tough race for both drivers.
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Williams Racing Russian Grand Prix Race Review |
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The Williams Racing drivers
would start the fifty three lap 2020 Russian Grand Prix from the 13th and
20th grid positions. Nicholas Latifi had suffered a five grid place penalty
for a gearbox change but George Russell has benefited from a driver in front
of him receiving the same penalty. On pole was Hamilton from Verstappen,
Bottas, Perez, Ricciardo, Sainz, Ocon, Norris, Gasly and Leclerc tenth. Of
the top ten it would only be Bottas and Verstappen who would start the race
on the medium the rest would be on the soft except Leclerc in tenth was on
the medium. The Williams drivers would also start on the medium tyre.
Outside the top ten they would be joined by Stroll, Vettel, Grosjean,
Giovinazzi, and Magnussen. On the hard were Kvyat in 11th and Raikkonen in
19th. As he had made it into Q3 Albon was required to start on the stop from
15th. Prior to the start it was announced that Hamilton was under
investigation for a race start practice breach.
The grid would complete the parade lap and would form up and with the start
it would be Hamilton leading but as Bottas tried to get past there would be
cars running wide and further incidents at Turn two. Both McLaren's had
terrible starts and would be involved in an incident that would see Sainz
retired after his car was damaged hitting the wall on attempting to return
to the track. He would be joined by Stroll whose car had been hit and spun
into the barrier. The Safety Car would be brought out in order to clear up
the damaged cars. George had been forced wide at Turn 2 and was required to
run through the bollards to return to the track seeing him lose a
significant number of places. Norris had also dropped down the order and was
now in 18th. |
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At the front it was Hamilton
from Bottas, Verstappen, Ocon, Ricciardo, Perez, Gasly, Leclerc, Magnussen
and Grosjean tenth. The Williams drivers were in 14th and 16th. The Safety
Car would be brought in and the race would restart with Hamilton fending off
Bottas. George would pass Raikkonen in the restart but Raikkonen was able to
get back past. It was announced that Hamilton would get a ten second penalty
for his practice race start infractions. Hamilton was now 1.6 seconds ahead
of Bottas as Raikkonen would pass Nicholas for 14th. Nicholas and George
were now running 15th and 16th with a fast closing Norris in 17th. George
was involved in a fight with Albon and Norris with George eventually keeping
in front but a brake lockup and Albon would pass. George would now be passed
by Norris and was now running in 18th. Nicholas was now in 15th. |
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George would pit on lap
seventeen and would switch to the medium tyre. Ricciardo had also pitted
returning in 14th as Albon passed Nicholas for 15th. The Williams drivers
were now running in 16th and 18th. Hamilton would pit on lap eighteen taking
the ten second penalty and switching to the hard. Hamilton would start his
drive back to the front currently been tenth. Nicholas would pit on lap
nineteen taking on the hard tyre. With pit stops starting Hamilton was now
seventh behind Magnussen. The Williams drivers were in 17th and 18th. The
last of the soft tyre drivers to pit was Perez but the top four had yet to
pit with Bottas leading from Verstappen, Leclerc and Kvyat. Hamilton was now
fifth followed by Perez, Vettel, Ocon, Ricciardo, and Raikkonen tenth.
Verstappen would pit returning on the hard now in fourth. Bottas would also
pit on lap twenty seven seeing him retain his lead over Leclerc. Ricciardo
had passed Ocon but in the process had run wide over the kerb so would
receive a five second penalty for not returning to the track correctly.
Albon would pit switching to the medium and was now in sixteenth. Leclerc
would pit on lap thirty and would return in seventh ahead of Ocon. Bottas
was now leading Verstappen, Kvyat and Hamilton but Kvyat had yet to pit. He
would pit on lap thirty two taking on the medium tyre and returned in
eighth. Gasly would pass Raikkonen for ninth with Raikkonen yet to pit. He
would pit on lap thirty eight dropping to 16th. |
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Gasly would pit on lap forty
five seeing him drop to 11th while Grosjean would pit coming out behind both
Williams cars which were now 16th and 17th. Norris, Albon and Gasly would be
involved in a fight for the final points positions but Gasly would
eventually move into ninth and Albon ten. Norris would have to pit on lap
fifty one dropping to 15th. On fresher tyres Grosjean would pass George for
17th seeing the Williams drivers 16th and 18th. George would pit late in the
race switching to the soft tyre coming out in 18th. The final laps would be
completed and it would be Bottas who would take victory from Verstappen,
Hamilton, Perez, Ricciardo, Leclerc, Ocon, Kvyat, Gasly and in tenth Albon.
In what was a difficult race the Williams drivers would finish in 16th and
18th. Despite having made a great start George would suffer from been
involved in the chaos at Turn two. At least both drivers would make it to
the finish which especially for Nicholas was a valuable experience. But
overall they again lacked the pace to fight with their main rivals. |
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