Italian GP: Williams F1 outside top ten after FP2

By Andrew Hooper
September 6 2013

With the finish of the second Friday practice for the 2013 Italian GP the Williams F1 team would see both team drivers finish outside the top ten with Pastor Maldonado 14th and Valtteri Bottas 18th. Both drivers would complete longer runs during the session runnning back to back tyres tests.

Italian GP Friday 2nd Practice

The opening Friday practice for the 2013 Italian Grand Prix would see Williams F1 drivers Pastor Maldonado and Valtteri Bottas finish in ninth and sixteenth. Now the Williams team was faced with the second session hoping to see both drivers finish well in the times. With the start of the session it would be Chilton out first followed by several other drivers including Button, Raikkonen, Vergne, Perez, Pic, Sutil, and for Williams Valtteri. Pastor would follow Valtteri out onto the track as drivers started to set times without any delay. Quickest would be Raikkonen, 1m:27.091, from Button and Vergne. But both Perez and Ricciardo would go faster than the Lotus. Perez had set a 1m:26.700 with Ricciardo three tenths further back. But Raikkonen would return to the top with a 1m:25.725.

Valtteri's first lap would see him sixth but Pastor would move ahead of Valtteri seeing the pair sixth and seventh. Button was now second from Perez, Di Resta, and Ricciardo. Pastor's time was a 1m:27.469 and Valtteri a 1m:27.792. Hulkenberg was now sixth seeing Pastor and Valtteri drop to seventh and eighth. Grosjean was now second, 1m:26.090, with Button and Perez third and fourth. But Vettel would move straight to the top of the times with a 1m:25.616 while Webber waited to get into his car after the team had replaced his KERS battery. Button would improve to be third, 1m:25.968, with Pastor now ninth and Valtteri again dropping down the order to be thirteenth. Vettel would improve his lap time to now be 0.687 seconds ahead of Raikkonen with a time of 1m:25.038, the fastest time so far this weekend.

Only Webber had yet to come out while for Ferrari Massa and Alonso were eighth and ninth. Rosberg would move up to fourth with a 1m:26.068. Alonso would improve to be fourth, 1m:25.782, while Rosberg would also improve with a 1m:25.699 to be second. Both Williams drivers had pitted with fifteen minutes of the session completed. Hamilton was down in thirteenth with Pastor now fourteenth and Valtteri sixteenth. The track had emptied somewhat after the first runs. Webber had finally been able to get out onto the track as Alonso moved into second with a time of 1m:25.543. Hamilton would also improve to be eighth with a 1m:25.920. On his first lap Webber would move up to third, 1m:25.693, with only four drivers out on the track. Webber was on an improved lap but so was Hamilton. Hamilton would move into third with a 1m:25.618 but Webber would improve to be second, 1m:25.253.

Valtteri would return to the track along with Sutil, Di Resta, and Ricciardo. Raikkonen was also back out along with Pastor for their second runs. Ricciardo was the first driver out on the medium tyre joined by Valtteri. Valtteri would complain about a big loss of straight-line speed. Vettel was back out on the medium tyre with the track now quite busy. Grosjean would take to the escape road at Turn one as Vettel found a lot of time using the medium tyres. He would finish with a 1m:24.721 but it was now a question of the life of the medium tyre. Pastor would improve with a 1m:26.513 still on the hard tyre while Valtteri had pitted with just under an hour remaining. Vettel would find more time on his next quick lap setting a 1m:24.453. Webber would also improve with a 1m:25.076. Webber was still on the hard tyre as Pastor pitted. The top ten was currently Vettel from Webber, Rosberg, Hamilton, Alonso, Raikkonen, Grosjean, Massa, Button, and Perez tenth.

For Williams Pastor was now fourteenth and Valtteri seventeenth. Both Hamilton and Alonso were on quicker laps but would remain fifth and fourth respectively. More drivers were on medium tyre runs including Hamilton. Alonso would move into third with a time of 1m:25.330 with Hamilton now fourth, 1m:25.340. Perez was now in sixth having set a 1m:25.627. team-mate Button would move ahead of Perez seeing the McLaren's sixth and seventh. Valtteri was back out as Raikkonen went third running on the medium tyre with a 1m:25.116. Grosjean was now fourth with forty five minutes remaining. Pastor was now back out on the track for his next run with Vettel also out but on the hard tyre this time. Rosberg would have to take to the escape road at the first chicane. Pastor was running on the medium tyre currently in fourteenth, 1m:26.213.

Raikkonen would put two wheels on the grass at Parabolica but he was able to keep his car under control. Alonso was back out running on the medium tyre. Pastor would find a few tenths setting a 1m:26.138, still in fourteenth. Valtteri had dropped to eighteenth with a 1m:27.198. Valtteri had run wide at the second chicane taking to the gravel but he was able to continue. Pastor would pit after a short run on his medium tyre. Only two drivers were now in their pits with just over thirty minutes remaining. Drivers were on longer runs in the later part of the session as Vergne pitted. Valtteri had pitted taking on the hard tyre while Pastor sat in his car in his pit. With just over twenty minutes remaining Pastor would return to the track while for Red Bull Vettel would pit joining Raikkonen.

But Vettel would return to the track with twenty minutes remaining having changed back to used medium tyres. Valtteri had now completed thirty two laps in the session being on a longer run. All twenty two cars were now out on the track while for Williams Pastor was on a long run on the medium tyres. Both Massa and Button
would pit with Massa pitting due to a gearbox issue. The Williams team had the two drivers comparing tyres with Valtteri on the hard and Pastor the medium. Alonso would run wide at the second Lesmo taking to the gravel with five minutes remaining. Valtteri had completed forty three laps as the session drew to a close. Pastor had completed thirty six laps as Valtteri pitted seeing the Williams team complete some pit stop practice.

The session would come to an end with Pastor having pitted. Valtteri would also come in with the pair fourteenth and sixteenth. With the end of the session Vettel was still fastest from Webber, Raikkonen, Grosjean, Alonso, Hamilton, Rosberg, Massa, Button, and Perez tenth. After his early pace in the first Friday practice Pastor Maldonado would fail to return to the top ten with both Williams drivers well down the times. With both drivers completing longer runs it was difficult to assess their qualifying pace. Saturday's practice should shown the true pace of the Williams cars.

Pos Driver         	  Team		        Time     Laps
1.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      1m24.453s 39 
2.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault      1m25.076s 39 
3.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault         1m25.116s 36 
4.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault         1m25.116s 40 
5.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari               1m25.330s 38 
6.  Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes              1m25.340s 39 
7.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes              1m25.367s 42 
8.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari               1m25.519s 29 
9.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1m25.532s 42
10. Sergio Perez          McLaren-Mercedes      1m25.627s 39
11. Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes  1m25.830s 40
12. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari        1m25.888s 40
13. Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes  1m26.028s 37
14. Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault      1m26.138s 36
15. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m26.224s 32
16. Nico Hulkenberg       Sauber-Ferrari        1m26.385s 43
17. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m26.599s 39
18. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Renault      1m27.198s 44
19. Max Chilton           Marussia-Cosworth     1m27.548s 30
20. Charles Pic           Caterham-Renault      1m27.696s 37
21. Giedo van der Garde   Caterham-Renault      1m27.771s 38
22. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Cosworth     1m28.057s 32

Italian GP: Williams F1 outside top ten after FP2

Posted by: Williams F1 (IP Logged)

Date: 06/09/2013 14:57

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