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Portuguese GP: Tough FP1 for Williams racing


By Andrew Hooper
October 23 2020

The opening Friday practice of the 2020 Portuguese GP would be somewhat of a tough time for the Williams Racing Team. Their drivers would finish well down the times with George Russell 18th and Nicholas Latifi 20th and slowest. This was despite Nichoilas using the medium tyre and George on the hard for their final runs. The early part of the session would see the team carry out aero assessments with bioth drivers running aero rakes on their cars. Hopefully the team will be able to assess their FP1 data and come back improved for FP2.

 
 Williams Racing Portuguese GP Friday 1st Practice
 
Latifi
 

Team Summary:
As drivers came out for their installation laps it would be Vettel who would set the first time with a 1m:30.462 only to see Sainz go quicker with a 1m:30.401. He would improve with a 1m:24.452 but this time would be deleted. Sainz would set a 1m:22.183 with Sainz and Verstappen the only cars running. Verstappen was now second behind Sainz who continued to lap with a best time of 1m:21.497. He would continue to lower his times with a 1m:20.696. Bottas was now second followed by Hamilton, Verstappen, Giovinazzi and Leclerc but the order was rapidly changing. The Williams drivers were currently 12th and 13th. But after a flurry of times the Williams drivers would be 14th and 15th. Both Williams drivers would pit but would return still on the hard tyre. With just under an hour remaining the Williams drivers were now 16th and 17th with the pair back in their pits.

At the front it was now Hamilton fastest with a 1m:20.165 but Leclerc would move ahead with a 1m:20.130. Hamilton was now second but a 1m:19.526 would again see him quickest from Leclerc, Bottas, Gasly, Albon, Perez, Vettel, and Sainz eighth. The Williams drivers were now 18th and 19th. The track would empty as drivers pitted to return their set of Pirelli tyres. Sainz was now fourth from Gasly, Vettel, Albon, Perez, Norris and Ricciardo tenth. The track was now empty with forty five minutes remaining. But with forty minutes remaining drivers would start to return with the medium tyre been used. The track was now very busy with a mix of hard and medium tyres been used.

Bottas was now fastest with a 1m:19.491 from Hamilton and Leclerc. Both Mercedes were on the medium tyre. Perez on the medium was fourth followed by Sainz, Gasly, Vettel, Norris, Albon and Ricciardo tenth. Hamilton was now quickest with a 1m:18.874. The Williams drivers had split their tyre running with the hard and medium been used on their second runs. They were 18th and 20th with twenty minutes remaining. On the medium tyre Bottas would set a 1m:18.410 to be 0.3 ahead of Hamilton. Verstappen was third followed by Leclerc, Albon, Sainz, Perez, Ricciardo, Gasly and Vettel tenth. Raikkonen would move up to eighth as the session came to a close seeing Gasly now tenth. With the end of the session the Williams drivers would remain 18th and 20th. George was again quickest over Nicholas by a considerable 0.680 with George having remained on the hard tyre while Nicholas had switched to the medium.

George Russell:
George would be out first for his instillation lap using the hard tyre. With just under an hour fifteen minutes remaining George would return again on the hard tyre. George would set a 1m:28.434 to be fourth behind Raikkonen. he would improves with a 1m:26.418 to now be third. A 1m:25.562 and George was now seventh as he pitted. He would return and would quickly improve with a 1m:24.465 to currently be 14th. A 1m:22.939 from George would see him 11th dropping to 12th. back in the pits and George was now 17th. On his first run George had aero rakes behind his rear tyres as the team tried to assess this new track. George would come back out after having a floor swap carried out with the team possibly having been testing a 2021 floor. He was again on the hard tyre for this next run. He would drop to 20th but a 1m:21.774 would see him now 17th. George's final run would again see him on the hard tyre with a lap time of 1m:21.374. He would remain with this time and in 18th.

Nichols Latifi:
Nicholas would also complete an installation lap using the hard tyre. Nicholas would follow his team-mate out also on the hard tyre. He would also be seen running aero rakes in front of his rear tyres. A 1m:30.339 from Nicholas to be sixth dropping to seventh. He would improve with a 1m:26.589 to currently be 12th. But with a 1m:24.970 would see Nicholas eighth, dropping to tenth. Nicholas continued to lap on the hard and would set a 1m:23.549 to be 14th. But a 1m:22.833 would see him now 10th dropping to 11th. Nicholas would pit after an eight lap run. Nicholas was currently 18th as he returned with forty minutes remaining this time on the medium tyre. A 1m:22.054 from Nicholas would see him 15th. He was now 16th dropping to 20th. He would pit but with just over ten minutes remaining was back out again on the medium tyre but he would also fail to improve on his final run remaining slowest.

 
Russell
 
Pos Driver Team Gap
1 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team 1m18.410s
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team 0.339s
3 Max Verstappen Aston Martin Red Bull Racing 0.781s
4 Charles Leclerc Scuderia Ferrari 0.899s
5 Alexander Albon Aston Martin Red Bull Racing 0.955s
6 Carlos Sainz Jr. McLaren F1 Team 1.031s
7 Sergio Perez BWT Racing Point F1 Team 1.497s
8 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen 1.544s
9 Daniel Ricciardo Renault DP World F1 Team 1.648s
10 Pierre Gasly Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda 1.714s
11 Sebastian Vettel Scuderia Ferrari 1.790s
12 Lando Norris McLaren F1 Team 1.797s
13 Daniil Kvyat Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda 1.868s
14 Kevin Magnussen Haas F1 Team 2.436s
15 Lance Stroll BWT Racing Point F1 Team 2.544s
16 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen 2.599s
17 Romain Grosjean Haas F1 Team 2.759s
18 George Russell Williams Racing 2.964s
19 Esteban Ocon Renault DP World F1 Team 3.263s
20 Nicholas Latifi Williams Racing 3.644s
 
Latifi
 

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Portuguese GP: Tough FP1 for Williams racing
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