Malaysian GP: Williams continue to struggle in FP2
Pastor Maldonado
By Andrew Hooper
March 22 2013
The second Friday practice session for the 2013 Malaysian GP would again see both Williams F1 drivers finish well down the order. Pastor Maldonado was 16th and Valtteri Bottas 19th. Despite having made changes to both cars the team still can't find any real improvement.
Malaysian GP Friday 2nd
Practice
After the first Friday practice
for the 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix the Williams F1 team would make a variety
of changes to both Pastor Maldonado's and Valtteri Bottas's cars as they
looked to improved the setup. For both drivers this would include having to
take the floors both cars. With the start of the second session
light rain would start to fall as the cars took to the track looking to get
dry laps in. Vergne would go fastest ahead of Ricciardo and Valtteri. But
both Alonso and Perez would move ahead, Alonso setting a 1m:37.383. Sparks
would come from the underneath of Valtteri's car as he went through Turn
twelve. Raikkonen would go fastest with a 1m:37.302 with Alonso second and
Vettel third. Valtteri was down in fifteenth and Pastor thirteenth,
1m:39.579.
Raikkonen had improved with a 1m:37.042 as clouds gathered over the track.
Di Resta was fourth and Webber now fifth. Both Pastor and Valtteri would pit
as other drivers started to switch from the hard to the medium tyre. Pastor
would be the first for Williams to try the option tyre making sure that he
got a run with them prior to any rain. Massa on the softer tyre would set a 1m:36.661 to be
fastest. Valtteri would follow Pastor out also using the medium tyre. The
clouds continued to move closer to the circuit with rain expected shortly.
Alonso was now second with a 1m:37.016 also on the medium tyre. Vettel would
go fastest with a 1m:36.588 also on the option tyre, while Webber was
fourth.
Both Williams drivers would pit after their first run on the medium tyre.
Pastor would get a front wing change and some other changes prior to
returning to the track this time on the hard tyre. Valtteri would have
another run on the option tyre. Raikkonen was now fastest with a 1m:36.569,
as the rain continued to close in onto the circuit. Pastor would report rain
at the back of the circuit. With forty five minutes of the session completed
the rain would start to fall seeing both Williams drivers return to their
pits. But with ten minutes remaining both drivers would return this time
running on intermediates but Pastor would soon say that it was dry enough
for slicks again. They would pit and come back out for their final run of
the day no doubt happy to conserve their wet weather tyres for the rest of
the weekend.
Pastor would get down into the 1m:42s on medium tyres but Pastor would get
down to a 1m:41.984 but this was compared to a 1m:40.050 from Raikkonen.
With the end of the session the overall times set early on in the dry had
Pastor finishing sixteenth with a 1m:38.801 and Valtteri a 1m:39.660 to be
nineteenth. At the front it was Raikkonen quickest, 1m:36.569, from Vettel,
Massa, Alonso, Webber, Grosjean, Rosberg, Di Resta, Hamilton, and Sutil
tenth. Despite the changes made by the Williams team in the break between
sessions the FW35 was still struggling to show any real pace. It would seem
to again be another weekend of disappointment for the Williams team still
struggling to find answers as to why the FW35 is off the pace.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m36.569 28
2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m36.588s 27
3. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m36.661s 33
4. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m36.985s 23
5. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m37.026s 29
6. Romain Grosjean Lotus Renault 1m37.206s 26
7. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m37.448s 32
8. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m37.571s 30
9. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m37.574s 32
10. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m37.788s 10
11. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 1m37.838s 21
12. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m37.865s 29
13. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 1m38.068s 31
14. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m38.645s 23
15. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m38.738s 31
16. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m38.801s 27
17. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m38.904s 31
18. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 1m39.508s 30
19. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m39.660s 28
20. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 1m40.757s 29
21. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1m40.768s 32
22. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 1m41.438s 23
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