Belgian GP: Encouraging FP3 for Williams Racing


By Andrew Hooper
August 27 2022

In the final practice session fro the 2022 Belgian GP the Williams Racing Team would see their drivers finish in 13th and 14th. Both drivers would complete several soft tyre runs in their sessionn and in what was an unusual sight we would see Nicholas Latifi finishes ahead of Alex Albon. The pair would be separated by just 0.025 in what was an encouraging session for the Williams Team. But it did seem that Alex had not completed another flying lap so could have gone faster and it raised the question as to whether a top ten was a possibility.

 
 Williams Racing Belgian GP Saturday Practice
 
Latifi
 

Team Summary:
With the start of the final Saturday practice session for the 2022 Belgian GP there would be a quick rush of drivers coming out on a mix of tyres with the soft being the most used. This would include both Williams cars out for their first runs and we would see a Williams go quickest with a 1m:50.050 followed by Ricciardo and Verstappen. We would then see the second Williams in fourth but this would change as Zhou went quickest with a 1m:47.795 followed by Bottas, Alex, Ricciardo, Verstappen and Nicholas sixth. Stroll and Vettel would move into third and fourth seeing the Williams pair now fifth and seventh.

With fifteen minutes completed the order was Zhou, Bottas, Stroll, Vettel, Alex, Ricciardo, Nicholas, Alonso, Verstappen, and Perez tenth. Neither Ferrari had yet to set a time. The track would empty leaving just Magnussen running as drivers started to switch to the medium and hard tyres. Magnussen would improve to be third seeing the Williams pair now sixth and eighth. Sainz was now quickest with a time of 1m:46.461 followed by Leclerc after their soft tyre runs. A Williams would move into second but Perez would go quickest with a 1m:45.972. This would see Alex third and Nicholas now 13th but on another soft tyre run. He would improve to be sixth but as we had others improve the Williams pair were currently fourth and seventh. The top ten was Perez, Sainz, Leclerc, Alex, Bottas, Stroll, Nicholas, Vettel, Hamilton and Tsunoda tenth.

But we would then see Verstappen quickest with a 1m:45.480 to be ahead of Perez. The Williams cars were now fifth and 11th. This would become seventh and 13th as they both pitted only to again return on again the soft tyre. Norris was now second but Sainz would move into this position. Quickly things would change as others went quicker with Perez fourth followed by Russell, Leclerc, Ricciardo, Hamilton, Nicholas and Alex tenth. But we would have a Red Flag come out when Leclerc would crash but he was able to continue returning his damaged car back to his pit. The session would restart with just a few minutes remaining and would become very busy and the session came to a close.

With the end of the session and the last flying laps the order would be Perez, Verstappen, Sainz, Norris, Alonso, Russell, Leclerc, Vettel, Ocon and Gasly tenth. The Williams pair would finish in 13th and 14th with Nicholas ahead of Alex. The pair would be separated by just 0.025 in what was an encouraging session for the Williams Racing Team. But it did seem that Alex had not completed another flying lap so could have gone faster and a top ten is a possibility.

Alex Albon:
Alex would take to the track early for the Saturday practice session using the soft tyre. Alex would set a 1m:50.050 to go quickest. He would drop to third and then fifth and he would pit after an eight lap run. He would drop to sixth as others went quicker. He would return on another set of soft tyres with just over half the session remaining. He would set a 1m:46.836 to move into second. Alex would drop to fifth and would pit after a five lap run. But he would return for another soft tyre run currently seventh. He would drop down the times to finish in 14th and did not seem to set another flying lap prior to the end of the session.

Nicholas Latifi:
Nicholas would join his team-mate also using the soft tyre. Nicholas would set a 1m:50.618 to currently be fourth dropping to sixth. But with a 1m:50.195 would see him fifth. This would become seventh and after an eight lap run he would pit joining Alex. Nicholas would drop to eight while he was in his garage. Nicholas would return also on a new set of soft tyres and would set a 1m:47.239 to be sixth behind Stroll. He would drop to be 13th pitting and then returning again on the soft tyre. With a 1m:46.811 he would improve to be ahead of his team-mate and would finish the session in 13th one place ahead of Alex.

 
Albon
 
Cla Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap Interval
1  Sergio Perez Red Bull 19 1'45.047    
2  Max Verstappen Red Bull 19 1'45.184 0.137 0.137
3  Carlos Sainz Ferrari 13 1'45.824 0.777 0.640
4  Lando Norris McLaren 20 1'45.965 0.918 0.141
5  Fernando Alonso Alpine 16 1'46.061 1.014 0.096
6  George Russell Mercedes 19 1'46.071 1.024 0.010
7  Charles Leclerc Ferrari 12 1'46.120 1.073 0.049
8  Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 18 1'46.166 1.119 0.046
9  Esteban Ocon Alpine 24 1'46.601 1.554 0.435
10  Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 19 1'46.604 1.557 0.003
11  Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 18 1'46.646 1.599 0.042
12  Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 20 1'46.769 1.722 0.123
13  Nicholas Latifi Williams 20 1'46.811 1.764 0.042
14  Alex Albon Williams 20 1'46.836 1.789 0.025
15  Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 20 1'46.881 1.834 0.045
16  Lance Stroll Aston Martin 16 1'46.975 1.928 0.094
17  Kevin Magnussen Haas 14 1'46.982 1.935 0.007
18  Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 23 1'47.035 1.988 0.053
19  Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 20 1'47.089 2.042 0.054
20  Mick Schumacher Haas 6 1'52.494 7.447 5.405
 
Albon
 

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