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With the sun setting over the
Yas Marina track the Williams F1 team would get ready for the start of the
second Friday practice session. Having seen Pastor Maldonado finish the
first session in ninth it was a positive start for the Williams F1 team.
Team-mate Valtteri Bottas was down in thirteenth. This session would be the
important one in preparation for Sunday's race which would be run at the
same time. The session would commence with Raikkonen out first followed by
Vergne and Chilton. All were on the medium tyres. For Williams Pastor would
be out first along with Gutierrez, Ricciardo, Di Resta, and Hulkenberg. Both
McLaren's were out on the track as Raikkonen started his flying lap. He
would finish with a 1m:44.360 as more drivers came out including Rosberg,
Massa, Sutil, and Hamilton.
Ricciardo went second with a 1m:45.870 but Pastor would take this spot with
a 1m:45.146. Pastor was on the medium tyre for his first run as Perez went
second with a 1m:44.532. Button was now fastest with a lap of 1m:44.079 with
Pastor now fourth. Valtteri had yet to come out as Vettel and Alonso took to
the track. Di Resta was now fourth followed by Hulkenberg seeing Pastor now sixth. Vergne
was seventh followed by team-mate Ricciardo and Gutierrez. With ten minutes
completed we had yet to see Webber, Grosjean, and Valtteri come out as
Raikkonen went fastest with a 1m:43.623. Perez would then move to the top of
the times with a 1m:43.564 with Button still second. Vettel was now in fourth, 1m:43.745, as
Valtteri came out for his first run. Raikkonen had pitted after six laps
while Pastor had set a 1m:44.666 and was currently in eighth. Hamilton was
now fifth, 1m:43.849, while for Ferrari Massa was ninth and Alonso tenth.
Rosberg was now sixth with a 1m:43.896 with Button now on a quicker lap
going fastest in the first two sectors. But he would lose time in the final
and not improve. Webber was now ninth and Sutil tenth. Pastor had now
dropped to twelfth and would pit with fifteen minutes of the session
completed. Valtteri was eighteenth with a time of 1m:45.677. Now it was
Vettel's turn to go fastest with a 1m:43.062 with Hamilton
now second, 1m:43.355. Gutierrez had improved to be eleventh with Pastor now
thirteenth. Valtteri would set personal bests in the first two sectors while
at the front Rosberg was now second, 1m:43.101. Valtteri would finish his
lap with a 1m:44.611 to be sixteenth. Pastor was now fourteenth as Webber
moved up to fourth, 1m:43.237. The track would clear after the drivers completed their first
runs on the medium tyre. First to come back out on the option tyre was
Raikkonen.
Raikkonen would go fastest in sector two and would finish his lap with a
time of 1m:41.888 to be quickest. Prior to this Webber had gone fastest with
a 1m:43.021. Valtteri had pitted as Pastor came back out. Pastor and
Valtteri were now fifteenth and seventeenth as more drivers returned to the
track. Raikkonen was on a second lap on the soft tyre setting a 1m:41.726 to
improve his quickest time. We now had both Mercedes out on the track along
with both McLaren's, Di Resta, Hulkenberg, Gutierrez, and Vergne. More
drivers were on the soft tyre as Hulkenberg went second fastest with a
1m:42.418 running on the option tyre. Vettel's car was on the stands with
his mechanics changing his rear wing. Several drivers were on quick laps
with Hamilton setting a 1m:41.871 to be second. Hulkenberg was now third
with Button setting a 1m:43.337 to be eighth. Perez was now fastest in
sector one as Rosberg went second with a 1m:41.758.
Perez would finish his lap setting a 1m:42.494 to be sixth as Valtteri had
left the pits. Raikkonen had pitted after his run as Webber came back out.
Grosjean was now eighth as Hamilton went fastest with a 1m:41.690. Drivers
would pit after their first runs on the soft tyre as Perez went fastest in
sector one. Pastor would also improve with a 1m:44.058 to be twelfth, while
Valtteri was now eleventh having set a 1m:44.026. As a result Pastor would drop to thirteenth. Pastor's time was
set still running on the medium tyre as Webber set a 1m:41.556 to be
quickest running on the soft tyre. Valtteri's time was set on the soft tyre
as the Williams team focused on their tyres as this was the only practice
session that would see conditions similar to that of qualifying and the
race.
Perez was now fifth with a 1m:42.006 as Pastor pitted. There was now fifty
minutes remaining as Alonso went sixth running on the soft tyre, 1m:42.171.
But this would become seventh as Button moved into sixth. But Vettel would
put everyone in their place as he went fastest with a 1m:41.434 running on
the softer tyre. Webber was now second followed by Hamilton, Raikkonen,
Rosberg, Perez, Button, Alonso, Hulkenberg, and Gutierrez tenth. Ricciardo
would move up to thirteenth, 1m:43.432, with Valtteri now fifteenth and
Pastor seventeenth. Vettel would improve with a 1m:41.335 as Grosjean went
out on the soft tyre. Valtteri would pit as Pastor returned to the track.
Button would pit with a rear puncture as Chilton spun at Turn one. He was
able to continue as Grosjean came on the radio saying that something broke
in his car. Pastor was on a quicker lap setting a 1m:43.224 to be fourteenth
still running on the medium tyre. Valtteri had dropped to sixteenth with
forty minutes remaining.
Grosjean would get back and it was found that he had a right front brake
disc failure. Pastor had improved with a 1m:42.952 to be thirteenth.
Valtteri was back out on the track with thirty two minutes remaining.
Hamilton and Rosberg were now on longer runs on the soft tyre. Some drivers
were on runs on the medium tyre as Pastor pitted. Both Vettel and Webber
were also on longer runs on the option tyre with the top ten now Vettel from
Webber, Hamilton, Raikkonen, Rosberg, Perez, Button, Alonso, Hulkenberg, and
Massa tenth. Di Resta was now sixteenth after his tyre problem. The track
was now very busy with just five cars still in their pits. Both Mercedes
drivers had switched to the medium tyre as Pastor returned to the track. Di
Resta would improve again to be thirteenth seeing Pastor drop to fourteenth
while Valtteri remained seventeenth. Valtteri had completed a pit stop
during his soft tyre run switching to the medium tyre. Vettel would pit
after completing thirteen laps on the soft tyre but he would return.
Grosjean was back out having seen his car repaired with sixteen minutes
remaining running on the soft tyre. Valtteri had dropped to be eighteenth
with Pastor fourteenth. The circuit was now in darkness with the track under
flood lights. Both Williams drivers were on longer runs as the session drew
to a close with ten minutes remaining. Raikkonen and Valtteri would nearly
make contact at Turn seven with the Lotus closely following the Williams.
Only Sutil was in the pits with both Red Bull's having switched to the
medium tyre. But Sutil was able to get back out on what was a very busy
track. He was on the medium tyre while Di Resta was on the soft as Grosjean
got out on his car after a short run on the softer tyre. Valtteri would pit
with just over two minutes remaining. His top would be quick returning to the
track. The session would come to an end with Vettel still fastest from
Webber. Down the order there was little change in positions with most
drivers completing longer runs on used tyres during the session.
For the Williams F1 team the session would see both drivers drop down the
times in what was a tyre evaluation session for them. How this translates
into times come qualifying and the race is yet to be seen. But along the
lines of previous races the Williams drivers continue to find it very
difficult to set competitive times. Despite the fact that the Williams team
has found time in the FW35 as they went through the second half of the
season it is turning out to be all too late. |
