Italian GP: Difficult but positive FP3 for Williams Racing


By Andrew Hooper
September 10 2022

The final practice session for the 2022 Italian GP would be a difficult one for the Willimas Racing Team what with the unexpected replacement of Alex Albon by Nyck de Vries with Albon suffering from appendicitis and the team being forced to make the call to bring in Nyck at very much the last moment. This would see his participation in the session delayed as the team rushed to change over Alex's car to the settings suited to Nyck. But even with this the team would come away with a positive session with Nicholas Latifi and Nyck, after their soft tyre runs, finishing in 13th & 14th. For Nyck given his limited track time in the FW44 the result was impressive while for Nicholas to see him move off the bottom of the times was positive in itself.

 
 Williams Racing Italian GP Saturday Practice
 
Latifi
 

Team Summary:
Just prior to the final Saturday practice session for the 2022 Italian Grand Prix the Williams team would announce that Alex Albon would be replaced for the remainder of the Italian GP by Nyck de Vries as the Williams driver was suffering from appendicitis. The session would start with a small number of drivers coming out including both Aston Martin's and AlphaTauri's. Perez would set a 1m:23.448 using the medium tyre followed by Bottas with just two cars running. Perez would improve with a 1m:22.611 as Tsunoda and Verstappen took to the track with ten minutes completed. Perez had improved with a 1m:22.148 as both Mercedes cars took to the circuit.

Verstappen would back off while running behind Russell going fourth only to have Russell move ahead. Both Ferrari's were now running along with Norris and Alonso. Verstappen was now quickest with a 1m:21.872 from Perez and Tsunoda. Leclerc was now third followed by Sainz, Alonso, Tsunoda, Norris, and Bottas eighth. Neither Williams had yet to come out with twenty minutes of the session completed. Both Williams cars were now running with the pair now 11th and 18th. Verstappen was still quickest from Leclerc, Perez, Sainz, Alonso, Gasly, Hamilton, Norris, Ocon and Tsunoda tenth. The track was now quite empty as both Williams cars continued to lap the Monza circuit. Both Williams drivers would pit and after a short wait we would see more drivers coming back out for soft tyre runs.

As laps were completed we would have Sainz second followed by Leclerc, Perez, Alonso, Norris, Russell and Nicholas eighth. Zhou would move into eighth seeing the Williams now ninth dropping to tenth. Verstappen would improve his quickest time with a 1m:21.252 as the quickest Williams was now 12th the next 13th. Leclerc was again second now followed by Perez, Sainz, Alonso, Norris, Russell, Tsunoda, Ocon and Hamilton tenth. The Williams drivers would finish the session in 13th and 14th which was an encouraging result given the situation that saw Nyck de Vries brought in at the last moment joined by the poor performances from Nicholas up to this session.

Nyck de Vries:
Nyck would finally get out with thirty five minutes remaining using the medium tyre. He would set a 1m:25.367 to be 18th briefly right behind his team-mate. But Nyck would have a moment taking to the gravel briefly. Nyck would improve with a 1m:24.790 remaining 18th. Nyck was just 0.5s behind Bottas who was on the soft tyre and Nyck the medium. A further improvement with a 1m:24.708 pitting after a ten lap run. He would quickly return remaining on used medium tyres. He would return having gained the experience of the pit entry and the stop. Nyck would return for a soft tyre run and would set a 1m:22.869 to be 13th right behind his team-mate. With the end of the session he would drop to 14th. He would get to complete a practice start from the grid with the end of the session.

Nicholas Latifi:
Nicholas would be the first car out in the session for Williams using the soft tyre. Nicholas would set a 1m:24.486 to be 17th. But with a 1m:23.552 Nicholas would improve to be tenth dropping to eleventh. He would pit after a eight lap run but would quickly return remaining on the used soft tyres. He would pit again and after a short delay he would return ion a new set of soft tyres. He would set a 1m:22.786 to be eighth dropping to tenth then twelfth. Nicholas would pit after a seven lap run. He would return to complete a practice start on the grid now 13th with the end of the session.

 
De Vries
 
Cla Driver Chassis Time Gap
1  Max Verstappen Red Bull 1'21.252  
2  Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1'21.599 0.347
3  Sergio Perez Red Bull 1'21.848 0.596
4  Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1'21.897 0.645
5  Fernando Alonso Alpine 1'22.306 1.054
6  Lando Norris McLaren 1'22.319 1.067
7  George Russell Mercedes 1'22.357 1.105
8  Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1'22.430 1.178
9  Esteban Ocon Alpine 1'22.506 1.254
10  Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1'22.567 1.315
11  Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 1'22.657 1.405
12  Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 1'22.755 1.503
13  Nicholas Latifi Williams 1'22.776 1.524
14  Nyck de Vries Williams 1'22.869 1.617
15  Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 1'22.871 1.619
16  Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 1'22.950 1.698
17  Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 1'23.104 1.852
18  Kevin Magnussen Haas 1'23.203 1.951
19  Mick Schumacher Haas 1'23.392 2.140
20  Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1'23.739 2.487
 
Latifi
 

Bookmark or share this story with:

Italian GP: Difficult but positive FP3 for Williams Racing
Discussion started by Williams F1 , 10/09/2022 13:41
Williams F1
10/09/2022 13:41
What do you think? You can have your say by posting below.
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.

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