Abu Dhabi GP:More of the same for ROKiT Williams in FP3
By Andrew Hooper
November 30 2019
The final practice session for the 2019 Abu Dhabi GP would see a very typical result for the ROKiT Williams team with both drivers slowest. Again we would see George Russell finish ahead of team-mate Robert Kubica with the gap 0.6s. Both drivers would focus on runs using just the soft tyre but it was a difficult session as it is not at the same time as the next session qualifying so it was difficult to assess their pace.
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ROKiT Williams
Abu Dhabi GP Saturday Practice |
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Team Summary:
The final practice session for the 2019 Abu Dhabi Grand prix would get
underway with small number of drivers coming out for instillation laps,
including a Williams. But with ten minutes completed the track would be
empty but with just under fifty minutes remaining drivers would start to
return with a mix of medium and soft tyres been used. Norris would set a
1m:38.987 to be quickest. Sainz was second followed by Raikkonen but
Hulkenberg would go quickest only to have Ricciardo move ahead with a
1m:38.271 with both Renault's on the soft tyre while those behind were on
the medium. Bottas would go quickest with a 1m:37.911 running a brand new
engine. Vettel was now second using the soft tyre followed by Ricciardo,
Albon, and Hulkenberg fifth.
Hamilton was now quickest with a 1m:37.699 from Bottas and Vettel.
Verstappen would move to the top of the times with a 1m:37.202. At the front
both Mercedes would move ahead of Verstappen with Hamilton fastest with a
time of 1m:36.877 to be ahead of Bottas by 0.312. With thirty minutes
remaining the order was Hamilton, Bottas, Verstappen, Vettel, Ricciardo,
Grosjean, Albon, Gasly, Hulkenberg and Magnussen tenth. Hamilton was quicker
with a 1m:36.640. With just over twenty minutes remaining the track would
only see a few runners. Vettel would go second running on the medium tyre.
Leclerc was now third also on the medium tyre. Bottas would return to second
ahead of Vettel.
Verstappen and Albon both on the soft tyre were now third and fourth
followed by the two Ferrari's. Verstappen would improve with a 1m:36.586 to
be quickest. With the end of the session drivers would complete practice
starts on the grid due to the nature of the pit lane. The top ten would be
Verstappen, Hamilton, Bottas, Albon, Vettel, Leclerc, Perez, Ricciardo,
Sainz and Gasly tenth. For Williams George would finish ahead of Robert but
the pair were slowest with George ahead of Robert by 0.653. Qualifying was
most likely see little change for either driver.
Robert Kubica:
Robert would be first out for Williams in his final practice session running
on the soft tyres. He would complete two installation laps prior to pitting.
He would return for his first run and would set a very slow lap time of
2m:15.703 but his next lap would be a 1m:40.929 seeing him slowest. But he
would improve with a 1m:40.439 to be 19th. He would pit briefly returning on
another set of soft tyres. Robert would set a 1m:39.859 but remained
slowest. With the end of the session Robert would pit remaining slowest.
George Russell:
With just over forty five minutes remaining George would take to the track
for the first time running on the soft tyre. George would tell his engineer
that he had some vibration coming off the brake peddle. he would complete
two laps prior to pitting without setting a time. Shortly after George would
return and would set a 1m:40.193 and would pit after a five lap run. He
would drop to 17th with twenty minutes remaining. Returning for his next run
George would set a 1m:39.206 to now be 16th. He would pit after a five lap
run. In his pit he would drop to 18th. George would pit and then return as
the session drew to a close. He would pit with the end of the session. |
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Pos |
Driver |
Car |
Time |
Gap |
Laps |
1 |
Max Verstappen |
Red Bull-Honda |
1m36.566s |
- |
15 |
2 |
Lewis Hamilton |
Mercedes |
1m36.640s |
0.074s |
18 |
3 |
Valtteri Bottas |
Mercedes |
1m36.655s |
0.089s |
17 |
4 |
Alexander Albon |
Red Bull-Honda |
1m36.927s |
0.361s |
18 |
5 |
Sebastian Vettel |
Ferrari |
1m36.975s |
0.409s |
15 |
6 |
Charles Leclerc |
Ferrari |
1m37.010s |
0.444s |
16 |
7 |
Sergio Perez |
Racing Point-Mercedes |
1m37.516s |
0.950s |
16 |
8 |
Daniel Ricciardo |
Renault |
1m37.615s |
1.049s |
14 |
9 |
Carlos Sainz Jr. |
McLaren-Renault |
1m37.691s |
1.125s |
22 |
10 |
Pierre Gasly |
Toro Rosso-Honda |
1m37.736s |
1.170s |
17 |
11 |
Romain Grosjean |
Haas-Ferrari |
1m37.768s |
1.202s |
12 |
12 |
Daniil Kvyat |
Toro Rosso-Honda |
1m37.963s |
1.397s |
18 |
13 |
Lando Norris |
McLaren-Renault |
1m38.100s |
1.534s |
18 |
14 |
Kevin Magnussen |
Haas-Ferrari |
1m38.198s |
1.632s |
12 |
15 |
Lance Stroll |
Racing Point-Mercedes |
1m38.462s |
1.896s |
16 |
16 |
Kimi Raikkonen |
Alfa Romeo-Ferrari |
1m38.514s |
1.948s |
21 |
17 |
Nico Hulkenberg |
Renault |
1m38.580s |
2.014s |
14 |
18 |
Antonio Giovinazzi |
Alfa Romeo-Ferrari |
1m38.782s |
2.216s |
18 |
19 |
George Russell |
Williams-Mercedes |
1m39.206s |
2.640s |
16 |
20 |
Robert Kubica |
Williams-Mercedes |
1m39.859s |
3.293s |
17 |
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