Abu Dhabi GP P1: Williams drivers outside top ten

The AT&T Williams team would be at the Yas Marina circuit for the inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The opening Friday practice session would be run in sunny conditions with Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima having to come to grips with this new circuit. For both Nico and Kazuki this will be their last race for the Williams team. Nico had announced his move from the team but we were yet to hear anything official as to what is happening to Kazuki but it is believed that his place will be taken by Nico Hulkenberg. Bridgestone was supplying the medium and soft tyres for the weekend.

Both Nico and Kazuki would complete their installation laps and would get out of their cars with both drivers seen taking to their engineers on the Williams pit wall. Reports had come back saying that the track was very dusty and as a result very slippery. With fifteen minutes of the session complete it would be Alguersuari who would set the first time, a 1m:55.624. His next lap would see him improve with a 1m:50.886 followed by a 1m:49.545. Buemi and Grosjean were also out on the track, joined by Fisichella. Nico would also come out as Alguersuari was still fastest with a 1m:49.143 from Buemi and Grosjean. On his first lap Nico was fourth with a time of 1m:51.341. Raikkonen was also out on the track while Nico had moved up to second.

Buemi was now fastest with a 1m:47.852 as more drivers took to the circuit with just over thirty minutes of the session complete. Buemi would find more time with a 1m:46.73 as Fisichella moved into second. He was beaten by Toyota's Kamui Kobayashi who moved into second with time just one tenth off Buemi's. Webber was now third but Nico would move ahead of everyone with a 1m:46.117, with Buemi second from Kobayashi and Webber. The track would get even busier with the likes of Button, Barrichello, Kovalainen, Kubica, and Hamilton out on the track. Kazuki was also pout on the track and would move into fourth while Vettel went fastest with a 1m:45.372.

Webber would make it a Red Bull one-two with a 1m:45.649 with Kubica third and Nico fourth. Both Brawn cars were way down the order but it was early days. Kovalainen was now second and Hamilton fourth. Button would spin his car at Turn nineteen but was able to continue. The top eight drivers had pitted with just over thirty minutes remaining. They would return to the track with Hamilton moving to the top of the times with lap of 1m:44.908 with Vettel second from Kovalainen and Kubica. Webber was now third with a 1m:45.437. As the track improve so did the times with Kubica now second with a 1m:44.988. After a few more laps Webber would go fastest with a 1m:44.805. Button was in eighth with a 1m:45.684.

On his next lap Button would improve to go fastest with a 1m:44.524. But Hamilton would take back the top spot with a 1m:44.219. Heidfeld was now third while Button would improve to again be fastest with a 1m:44.035. Webber was fourth while despite being stuck in his pits for most of the session Sutil would set a time good enough for fifth with a 1m:44.860. Vettel would go fourth with a 1m:44.644 while Barrichello was up to third, 1m:44.207. Both Nico and Kazuki were outside the top ten and as the session came to and end they would drop down further to be in thirteenth and fourteenth. Hamilton had improved his time with a 1m:43.939 while Button remained in second from Vettel, Barrichello, Heidfeld, Buemi, Sutil, Webber, Alguersuari, and Trulli in in tenth.

Both Williams drivers were some 1.7 seconds off the pace but Nico was only just 0.03 seconds ahead of Kazuki in a close fight. It is very early days for both Williams drivers but with the cooler conditions expected in the second Friday practice session, which is run at 5PM local time, the times should
improve.

Pos  Driver       Team			     Time     Laps
 1.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:43.939 18
 2.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:44.035 20
 3.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:44.153 28
 4.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:44.207 23
 5.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:44.667 23
 6.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:44.687 32
 7.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:44.688 14
 8.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:44.805 25
09.  Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:44.955 33
10.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:44.958 25
11.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:44.988 22
12.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:45.123 20
13.  Rosberg      AT&T Williams-Toyota  (B)  1:45.649 27
14.  Nakajima     AT&T Williams-Toyota  (B)  1:45.679 25
15.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:45.704 27
16.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:45.865 23
17.  Liuzzi       Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:46.239 22
18.  Fisichella   Ferrari               (B)  1:46.267 26
19.  Kobayashi    Toyota                (B)  1:46.364 28
20.  Grosjean     Renault               (B)  1:46.411 27