Azerbaijan GP: Little FP3 improvement for Williams Racing
By Andrew Hooper
June 11 2022
The final Saturday practice session for the 2022 Azerbaijan GP would see the Williams Racing Team come away with little in terms of improvement over their Friday sessions. The session would see Alex Albon and Nicholas Latifi finish in 17th and 20th positions. Both drivers would compleet several soft tyre runs with the the pace of Alex been encouraging but for Nicholas he was well behind his team-mate but overall the car is still making life very difficult for both drivers.
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Williams
Racing Azerbaijan GP Saturday Practice |
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Team Summary:
The final practice session for the 2022 Azerbaijan Grand Prix would commence
after a delayed start with Stroll been first out using the medium tyre and
he was followed by others also using the same tyre seeing both Aston
Martins, both Haas and both Mercedes cars out on the track. The Mercedes
were on the hard tyre as we saw both Aston Martins pit switching to the hard
as well. After the initial laps we would be left with just the Aston Martins
running. They would also pit with it seeming that they were scrubbing the
hard tyres in for the race.
Russell would return on the soft tyre joined by both Alfa Romeo cars and
Sainz also on the soft. Russell would set a 1m:47.256 with close to fifteen
minutes of the session completed. Both AlphaTauri cars were running on the
hard tyre as Schumacher went second using the soft tyre. Sainz was now
fastest with a time of 1m:46.457 now followed by Magnussen. Leclerc went
quickest with a 1m:45.260 as more drivers started to come out including the
first of the Williams. Russell would improve to be second ahead of Sainz.
Perez was now second ahead of Russell, Sainz, Magnussen, and Hamilton sixth,
all using the soft tyre.
Sainz would improve with a 1m:44.744 to move ahead of Leclerc. The only
Williams to set a time was in 17th as Perez would move to the top of the
times with a 1m:44.416. The Williams pair were now 18th and 19th as Gasly
moved into fourth ahead of Russell, Vettel, Hamilton and Tsunoda eighth.
Verstappen was now second right behind his team-mate. Sainz was able to go
fastest with a 1m:44.001 using five lap old soft tyres. But Leclerc would
also find time going quicker with a 1m:43.514 with Perez again second ahead
of Sainz. The Williams drivers weer currently 17th and 19th separated by
just 0.07s.
With just a handful of cars running we would have a Williams move up to be
15th with the second now 18th. Only the car of Ricciardo would be left
running with just over twenty minutes remaining in the session. Ricciardo
would pit but a Williams would return for another soft tyre run. The car
would finish tenth dropping to 12th. More times were been set all on the
soft tyre in what were qualifying simulations as the final fifteen minutes
of the session commenced. Leclerc would set a 1m:43.240 to remain fastest
from Verstappen and Perez, Sainz was now fourth followed by Norris, Russell,
Gasly, and Stroll eighth.
Perez would set a 1m:43.170 to go quickest from Leclerc and Verstappen.
Sainz was now fourth from Norris, Ricciardo, Gasly, Russell, Ocon, and
Vettel tenth. The session would end with the positions remaining the same
while for Williams their drivers would finish in 17th and 20th. The pace of
Alex was encouraging but for Nicholas he was well behind his team-mate but
overall the car is still making life very difficult for both drivers.
Alex Albon:
Alex would make a late start to the session suing the soft tyre. He would
set a 1m:48.140 to be 19th and one place behind his team-mate. He would drop
to be slowest but with a 1m:47.197 he would improve to be 18th. He would
drop to 19th. Alex would also pit for a second set of soft tyres and would
be able to set a 1m:46.767 to be 15th. He would dropt o be 20th and slowest
as he returned for his final soft tyre run. Alex would have to abandon his
fast lap attempt after encountering yellow flags at Turn 3 after Bottas ran
into the escape road. His next lap was a 1m:45.479 to be 15th. He was now
0.5s ahead of team-mate Nicholas. But he would drop to 17th as the session
ended.
Nicholas Latifi:
Nicholas would be first out in the session for Williams using the soft tyre.
He would set a 1m:49.332 to be 12th dropping to 15th. Despite setting a
m1:47.816 Nicholas was now 18th and slowest. He would pit after a five lap
run quickly returning on another set of soft tyres. He would set a 1m:47.127
to be 17th. He would pit after a three lap run now 18th. With twenty two
minutes remaining Nicholas would return on another set of soft tyres. He
would set a 1m:46.070 to be 10th. He would drop to 12th as other times were
set. This would become 17th as more times were set. After a six lap run
Nicholas would pit. With the end of the session he would return to complete
a practice start on the grid.
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1 |
Sergio Perez
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Red Bull |
18 |
1'43.170
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2 |
Charles Leclerc
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Ferrari |
19 |
1'43.240
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0.070
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3 |
Max Verstappen
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Red Bull |
14 |
1'43.449
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0.279
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4 |
Carlos Sainz
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Ferrari |
19 |
1'43.596
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0.426
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5 |
Lando Norris
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McLaren |
13 |
1'44.418
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1.248
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6 |
Daniel Ricciardo
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McLaren |
19 |
1'44.476
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1.306
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7 |
Pierre Gasly
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AlphaTauri |
21 |
1'44.491
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1.321
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8 |
George Russell
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Mercedes |
17 |
1'44.573
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1.403
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9 |
Esteban Ocon
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Alpine |
15 |
1'44.685
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1.515
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10 |
Sebastian Vettel
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Aston Martin |
18 |
1'44.689
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1.519
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11 |
Fernando Alonso
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Alpine |
14 |
1'44.842
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1.672
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12 |
Lewis Hamilton
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Mercedes |
19 |
1'44.845
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1.675
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13 |
Lance Stroll
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Aston Martin |
17 |
1'44.879
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1.709
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14 |
Zhou Guanyu
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Alfa Romeo |
18 |
1'44.913
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1.743
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15 |
Kevin Magnussen
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Haas |
17 |
1'44.919
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1.749
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16 |
Yuki Tsunoda
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AlphaTauri |
20 |
1'44.964
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1.794
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17 |
Alex Albon
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Williams |
17 |
1'45.479
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2.309
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18 |
Mick Schumacher
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Haas |
19 |
1'45.532
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2.362
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19 |
Valtteri Bottas
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Alfa Romeo |
17 |
1'45.574
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2.404
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20 |
Nicholas Latifi
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Williams |
17 |
1'46.070
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2.900
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