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Portuguese GP: Mixed FP3 for Williams Racing


By Andrew Hooper
October 24 2020

The final practice session for the 2020 Portuguese GP would see the Williams Racing Team come away with a bit of a mixed result. In what was a session where both Williams drivers would focus on the soft tyre George Russell would finish in 15th while team-mate Nicholas Latifi was 19th. Both drivers would have their own moments during the session with George having a moment that would see him flat spot his front tyres while Nicholas would have an issue with his seat getting quite hot. How qualifying is going to turn out could be a repeat of previous races with one driver in Q2 and the other not making ot past Q1.

   
   Williams Racing Portuguese GP Saturday Practice
   
  Russell
   
 

Team Summary:
After having an interrupted final Friday practice there was not a lot of meaningful running in terms of things like high fuel runs. So Saturday practice was expected to be a busy time. There were also issues with how it took time to prepare the soft tyre. The first driver out was Sainz on the medium tyre. As more drivers came out there was a mix of tyres been used. But just as quickly the drivers would pit. Bottas was next out on the soft tyre joined by Hamilton on the same tyre. Bottas would set a 1m:17.88 to be quickest from Hamilton. Both Williams drivers would take to the track both on the medium tyre. Hamilton was now quickest with a 1m:16.931. Gasly was now third followed by Ricciardo, Leclerc, Kvyat, Norris, and Vettel eighth.

Leclerc was now second but Gasly would take this spot seeing Leclerc now third ahead of Bottas. The top four times were all on the soft tyre. Verstappen was now third on the medium tyre and would go fastest but this time would be deleted. Verstappen was able to improve to be second with Gasly third followed by Albon, Sainz, Leclerc, Bottas, Ocon, Norris and Perez tenth. Hamilton had improved his quickest time with a 1m:16.680. The Williams drivers after soft tyre runs were currently 14th and 19th. A 1m:16.654 from Bottas to move to the top of the times. Both Williams drivers would return for second runs on the soft tyre and were currently 15th and 19th. One driver would pit after a single timed lap but would return after fixing a seat related heat issue.

With under ten minutes remaining Bottas was still quickest from Hamilton, Verstappen, Gasly, Albon, Leclerc, Sainz, Perez, Norris and Ocon tenth. The Williams drivers were 15th and 19th and both back in their pits. But both would come out for another soft tyre run. But both would pit again with only one driver returning. But the session would be red flagged with just a minute remaining seeing the session come to an end. it was caused by a drain cover being flipped up. The track would empty as the session ended. A mixed practice for Williams with one driver just 0.3 outside the top ten while the others session was not as positive been 0.7 outside the top ten and 0.365 behind his team-mate.

Nicholas Latifi:
Nicholas would take to the track with just under fifty minutes remaining, using the medium tyre. A 1m:30.044 would see him tenth but was slowest on what was a unrepresentative time. He would set a 1m:19.464 to be 13th but still slowest. Nicholas would pit after a six lap run. he would quickly return on the soft tyre. He would set a 1m:18.533 to be 17th. he would pit after a short run but would quickly return again on the soft tyre and would set a 1m:18.397 to be 19th. But after just one timed lap he would pit. He would complain to his engineer that it is quite hot in his seat most likely explaining his quick return to the pits. Whatever the issue was he would return still on the soft tyre. But just again he would pit as the session drew to a close.

George Russell:
George would join his team-mate also using the medium tyre. But George would switch to the soft tyre. A 1m:19.311 from George but his time would be deleted. His next flying lap was a 1m:18.647 to be 14th but a time was deleted seeing him now 13th. He would drop to 16th but a 1m:18.032 would see him 12th. He would drop to 14th as he pitted having flat spotted his front tyre. He had completed eight lap on the soft tyre. He would return with another set of soft tyres on what was a longer run on this tyre. He would pit after a nine lap run currently 15th. But quickly he was back out for a further soft tyre run. Like Nicholas he would pit in what seemed like pit stop practice routine.

   
  Latifi
   
 
Pos Driver Team Gap
1 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team 1m16.654s
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team 0.026s
3 Max Verstappen Aston Martin Red Bull Racing 0.158s
4 Pierre Gasly Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda 0.276s
5 Alexander Albon Aston Martin Red Bull Racing 0.463s
6 Charles Leclerc Scuderia Ferrari 0.575s
7 Carlos Sainz Jr. McLaren F1 Team 0.584s
8 Sergio Perez BWT Racing Point F1 Team 0.643s
9 Lando Norris McLaren F1 Team 0.824s
10 Esteban Ocon Renault DP World F1 Team 1.012s
11 Sebastian Vettel Scuderia Ferrari 1.031s
12 Daniil Kvyat Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda 1.066s
13 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen 1.268s
14 Daniel Ricciardo Renault DP World F1 Team 1.281s
15 George Russell Williams Racing 1.378s
16 Lance Stroll BWT Racing Point F1 Team 1.446s
17 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen 1.547s
18 Kevin Magnussen Haas F1 Team 1.633s
19 Nicholas Latifi Williams Racing 1.743s
20 Romain Grosjean Haas F1 Team 1.800s
   
  Russell
   
 

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Portuguese GP: Mixed FP3 for Williams Racing
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