Belgian GP P2: Williams off the pace


Kazuki Nakajima

By Andrew Hooper
August 28 2009

Both AT&T Williams drivers would be off the pace after the second Friday Belgian practice with Kazuki Nakajima and team-mate Nico Rosberg finishing in 15th and 19th. But they were not the only one's struggling as they were joined by some highly rated company with the Brawn drivers only managing 17th and 18th. Overall it must have been a somewhat disappointing session for the Williams team.

 
 Belgian GP Friday 2nd Practice
 

After the rain affected first Friday practice the second would get underway with improved conditions with sunshine over the circuit. The session would commence with a rush of drivers taking to the track in what would be a busy session as drivers tried to make up for lost time. Kubica would be fastest after the first few minutes of the session with a 1m:51.156. But the session would be stopped as debris was cleared from the flat-out Blanchimont corner. It was the wheel spinner from Luca Badoer's Ferrari. With the restart of the session the drivers would again take to the track.

RosbergWith ten minutes of the session run the top six was headed by Alonso with a 1m49.207s, with Grosjean making it a Renault one-two, Fisichella third, Kubica fourth, Nico fifth and Alguersuari sixth. The majority of drivers were using the harder tyre for a run of laps. Trulli would go second with a 1m:49.524. Buemi was now third with a time of 1m:49.907 followed by Hamilton. Button would move into sixth with a time of 1m:49.349 while team-mate Barrichello was in eleventh. Kovalainen was eighth while Alguersuari would move from fifth to fourth with a 1m:48.876.

Kovalainen would move up to fourth while Alonso would improve with a 1m:48.036. So with thirty minutes of the session run the order Alonso from Hamilton, Webber, Kovalainen, Sutil and Barrichello. As for the AT&T Williams drivers Nico was down in sixteenth with a 1m:49.660. Kazuki was nineteenth with a 1m:50.575. Both drivers were over 1.5 seconds off the quickest times. Raikkonen would move up the order to be fourth, 1m:48.574, to be behind
third placed Webber. Webber would respond with a 1m:48.254 to move into second. Nico would find some pace from his FW31 to move up to tenth, 1m:49.002.

At the front Hamilton would move ahead of Raikkonen and Webber to be second but Webber would put in a quick lap to be fastest with a 1m:47.830. Button was now seventh. Kazuki was up to seventeenth, 1m:49.537, while Nico had dropped to eleventh. Hamilton was now fastest with a time of 1m:47.825 but Webber would quickly respond with a 1m:47.496. Alonso was third from Raikkonen, Kovalainen, Buemi, Button, Alguersuari, Sutil, and Barrichello in tenth. Kazuki
was not able to improve from seventeenth but Button was able to move up to fifth, 1m:48.233 but was pushed down one spot by Buemi.

Nico had dropped down the order to be fifteenth. Webber had shaved a few tenths off his time with a 1m:47.484 to remain fastest. Trulli was now second, 1m:47.559, followed by Vettel with a time of 1m:47.680. With forty five minutes of the session Kazuki had pitted from seventeenth, two seconds off the pace. Nico would also pit as Sutil moved into third, 1m:47.579. Nico and Kazuki had dropped down to sixteenth and nineteenth. Drivers were starting to run on the softer tyre, including Kubica. With thirty seven minutes left both Nico and Kazuki would come back out while Kubica would improve to be fifth, 1m:47.805. Glock would move from eighteenth to now be in second, 1m:47.516.

RosbergNico was now seventeenth while Hamilton was out on the softer tyre currently in sixth. He would set a time of 1m:47.995 which was slower than on the harder tyres. Alguersuari was up to fourth with a 1m:47.579. Vettel was now fifth from Kubica, Hamilton, Raikkonen, Kovalainen, and Buemi. Kovalainen was out on the softer tyre. Nico had pitted still down in seventeenth. Kazuki was still down the times in nineteenth with a time of 1m:49.188. The Williams drivers were somewhat off where one would expect to see them on a Friday. Kazuki had improved one place to be eighteenth, 1m:49.031.

Buemi would improve to be sixth, 1m:47.702. Kubica would move up to fourth with a time of 1m:47.578 running on the harder tyre, pushing Alguersuari down to fifth. Kazuki was now seventeenth pushing Nico down to eighteenth, 1m:48.786. Kazuki would pit with just over seventeen minutes remaining. Alonso was back out on the softer tyre. Raikkonen was now seventh, 1m:47.678, running on the softer tyre. Nico was back out running on the harder tyre while at the front Webber remained quickest from Glock and Trulli. Button and Barrichello were down in thirteenth and fifteenth. After going fastest in sector two Glock would go fastest with a time of 1m:47.217, running on the softer tyre.

Nico would again pit without improving. With nine minutes of the session left both Williams drivers were still off the pace. Barrichello on the softer tyre was able to improve to be twelfth, 1m:48.130. Now it was Kazuki's turn to take to the track as the final minutes counted down. Hamilton was on a quicker lap moving up to second with a 1m:47.261. He was also on the softer tyre. Nico would come back out as the final three minutes counted down. Hamilton had continued on the softer tyres and on his next lap was able to go quickest with a 1m:47.201, despite the fact that he looked to be working hard on his lap.

Raikkonen was now third, 1m:47.285, followed by Webber, Trulli, Kubica, Alguersuari, Vettel, Buemi, and Kovalainen in tenth. Kazuki had been able to find some time with a 1m:47.961 to move up to thirteenth. Kazuki was on the softer tyre for his run while Raikkonen would pull off the track right at the end of the session. Prior to pulling off Raikkonen was to leave the track taking to the grass. Alguersuari would also pull off the track at Turn thirteen saying that he had a failure with his engine. In the final moments Grosjean was able to move up to fifth. The drivers would return to the start grid to carry out practice starts.

So with then end of the session Kazuki would finish in fifteenth and Nico nineteenth. The margin to the quickest time had been improved with Kazuki 0.76 and Nico 1.159 behind. But they were joined by some highly rated company with Button and Barrichello only managing seventeenth and eighteenth. With Frank Williams looking on it must have been a somewhat disappointing session for the Williams team.

I
Pos  Driver	  Team			     Time     Laps
 1.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:47.201 29
 2.  Glock        Toyota                (B)  1:47.217 29
 3.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:47.285 26
 4.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:47.329 31
 5.  Grosjean     Renault               (B)  1:47.333 34
 6.  Fisichella   Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:47.506 27
 7.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:47.559 33
 8.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:47.578 33
 9.  Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:47.579 36
10.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:47.602 25
11.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:47.702 38
12.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:47.743 33
13.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:47.790 29
14.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:47.862 30
15.  Nakajima     AT&T Williams-Toyota  (B)  1:47.961 32
16.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:48.017 30
17.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:48.125 34
18.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:48.130 37
19.  Rosberg      AT&T Williams-Toyota  (B)  1:48.360 29
20.  Badoer       Ferrari               (B)  1:49.211 30
 

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Belgian GP P2: Williams off the pace
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