Abu Dhabi GP: FP1 results as expected for Williams Racing


By Andrew Hooper
December 11 2020

With the return of George Russell back to his regular drive at Williams Racing the opening Friday practice session for the team would produce results that were very much expected given the fact that the session has been described as very much a test session with the team working of aero tests in preparation for 2021. George Russell would finish the session in 16th one place ahead of team-mate Nicholas Latifi. George would run a tribute helmet in memory of former owners the Williams family in particular Frank and Claire.

 
 Williams Racing Abu Dhabi GP Friday 1st Practice
 
Latifi
 

Team Summary:
The opening Friday practice session would see the return of George Russell to Williams. With teh start of the session both Williams cars were out early both on the hard tyre. Albon would go fastest with a time of 1m:45.301 followed by Ocon and Vettel. Albon was on the hard as Leclerc set a 1m:42.903 with both Ferrari's on the soft tyre. Bottas on the hard would set a 1m:40.692 followed by Leclerc and Albon. Both Williams had pitted after single laps. Robert Kubica and Mick Schumacher were running in this session for Alfa Romeo and Haas. Bottas would improve with a 1m:39.313 followed by Leclerc, Albon, Vettel, Ocon and Hamilton sixth after a slow couple of laps. On the medium Raikkonen was now second ahead of Leclerc. Gasly was now third but a Williams would move ahead of him.

Ricciardo would stop at the side of the track with no drive as the second Williams came out as the other pitted. At the front on the hard tyre Verstappen would go quickest with a 1m:39.113. But Bottas would improve on the soft tyre to set a 1m:37.412, followed by Verstappen, Raikkonen, Sainz, and Nicholas. Sainz was now third followed by Gasly and now Perez in fifth using the soft tyre. Sainz and Gasly were on the medium tyre. Gasly would improve to be third while the Williams were currently ninth and fourteenth. This would change to be 11th and 12th with George ahead of Nicholas. Perez on the soft was now second with Verstappen third. The track would empty as all teams pitted their drivers to return this set of Pirelli tyres.

Several drivers were back out including one of the Williams. Both Mercedes were back out including Hamilton who has had a braking issue prior to this limiting his running. On the hard tyre Hamilton was now sixth behind Sainz. The Williams drivers were currently 14th and 15th with the pair of a split tyre evaluation using the medium and hard tyre. Stroll was now in fourth on the soft tyre followed by Gasly, Raikkonen, and Kvyat seventh. Ocon was now second set on the soft tyre. Verstappen on the soft tyre would set a 1m:37.378 to now be quickest followed by Bottas and Ocon. The Williams drivers were now 13th and 15th with twenty five minutes remaining. Hamilton was improving now in fourth ahead of Stroll and Perez.

The Williams drivers would dropt o be 15th and 16th as more soft tyres were set. As Vettel moved into 15th the Williams drives were now 16th and 17th. At the front Verstappen was still quickest from Bottas, Ocon, Albon, Hamilton, Stroll, Perez, Kvyat, Gasly and Raikkonen tenth with five minutes remaining. This order would remain as the session ended with the Williams drivers finishing in 16th and 17th. The drivers were able to complete practice starts on the grid. Given the fact that the team was using this session as more of a test session these positions are not unexpected.

George Russell:
George would follow out his team-mate for his installation lap also using the hard tyre. With just over an hour remaining George would return this time on the soft tyre. George would set a 1m:42.295 to currently be 14th. But George would improve with a 1m:41.042 to be 11th one place ahead of Nicholas. George was on a better lap but would pit and not improve. George would return for a second run this time on the medium tyre. George would improve with a 1m:40.446 to be 12th dropping to 13th. George would pit after a seven lap run on the medium tyre. He was currently 15th with fifteen minutes remaining. He would come out for a further run with twelve minutes remaining continuing with the medium tyre. To finish the session he would pit after ten lap run.

Nichols Latifi:
Nicholas would be out first for Williams for his installation lap using the hard tyre. With just over fifteen minutes of the session completed Nicholas would return this time of the soft tyre. He would set a 1m:42.385 to be currently fifth. He would drop to seventh still behind Albon. He would improve with a 1m:41.063 to now be third ahead of Gasly. He would pit after a five lap run dropping to fifth. He would drop own the order to be 12th and behind his team-mate. He would pit after a five lap run. Nicholas would be the first driver to return but now on the hard tyre. He was currently 15th with thirty three minutes remaining. Nicholas would pit after a seven lap run currently 15th. He would drop to be 16th with fifteen minutes of the session completed. With fourteen minutes of the session remaining Nicholas would return again on the hard tyre. With the nd of the session he would pit having completed twelve lap run.

 
Russell
 
Pos Driver Car Gap
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 1m37.378s
2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 0.034s
3 Esteban Ocon Renault 1.137s
4 Alexander Albon Red Bull-Honda 1.169s
5 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1.366s
6 Lance Stroll Racing Point-Mercedes 1.453s
7 Sergio Perez Racing Point-Mercedes 1.578s
8 Daniil Kvyat AlphaTauri-Honda 1.772s
9 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri-Honda 1.782s
10 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo-Ferrari 1.821s
11 Carlos Sainz Jr. McLaren-Renault 1.952s
12 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1.966s
13 Lando Norris McLaren-Renault 1.974s
14 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 2.292s
15 Robert Kubica Alfa Romeo-Ferrari 2.527s
16 George Russell Williams-Mercedes 3.068s
17 Nicholas Latifi Williams-Mercedes 3.685s
18 Mick Schumacher Haas-Ferrari 3.857s
19 Pietro Fittipaldi Haas-Ferrari 6.691s
20 Daniel Ricciardo Renault -
 
Russell
 

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Abu Dhabi GP: FP1 results as expected for Williams Racing
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