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After an encouraging Friday
practice that saw both cars in the top ten the Williams Martini team would
commence the final Saturday practice at the Sochi circuit. Both Williams
cars would come out early for their installation lap, running on the medium
tyre. They would both pit after the one lap Drivers would start to set times
with Kvyat fastest from Sutil with a 1m:42.988. Vergne would go quickest
with a 1m:42.600 with Vettel fourth. Perez was now third with a 1m:43.419 as
Hamilton and Hulkenberg also took to the track. Rosberg would also come out
as Hulkenberg went third, 1m:43.322. Hamilton would go fastest with a
1m:42.030 with Kvyat moving into second with a time of 1m:42.180.
Vettel's next lap would see a 1m:41.999 to go quickest but just as quickly
Rosberg would go ahead with a 1m:41.859. Vettel was now second from Hamilton
but he would improve to be quickest with a 1m:41.554. Hulkenberg would also
improve with a 1m:42.193 to be fifth. Hamilton was also on a quicker lap
setting a 1m:40.725 as Kvyat also improved with a 1m:41.291 to be second.
Both McLaren's were now out on the track as Vettel pitted. Rosberg was also
finding time setting a 1m:41.139 to move into second. Raikkonen and Grosjean
were also out on the track as Hulkenberg lowered his time with a 1m:41.689
but remained fifth. Magnussen was now sixth with Kvyat also improving to be second with a 1m:40.960. But
Rosberg would take this spot back with a 1m:40.831 as Button moved into
sixth on his first timed lap. Perez was now seventh from Magnussen and
Sutil.
Both Williams cars were out on the track for their first runs with just over
forty minutes remaining. But the session would be red flagged when Magnussen
would stop his car out on the track near Turn four after having a big moment
with his car with what appeared to some type of failure with his car. He was
able to bring his car to a stop without making contact with the wall but his car had to be pushed
away by the marshals. The session would restart with Ricciardo and both
Williams out first. Button and Alonso would follow them out along with a
large number of other cars. We had Rosberg, Kvyat, Vettel, Perez, and Vergne
out on the track. On their first laps Valtteri would move into tenth with a 1m:42.510 with Felipe
sixteenth with a 1m:46.007. Hamilton was also out on the track as Valtteri
moved into fifth with a time of 1m:41.275 on his next lap. Alonso was now
fourth, 1m:41.058, while Felipe would improve to be eighth, 1m:42.159. But
Felipe would drop down to ninth as Vergne took eighth.
Valtteri would go quickest in sector one and two. He would finish his lap
with a 1m:40.655 to be quickest. Felipe would also improve to be sixth,
1m:41.357. Hamilton would improve the quicke4st first sector time while
Ricciardo would improve ti be ninth, 1m:41.784. Both Williams drivers would
pit after their first runs as Perez moved up to tenth, 1m:41.902. Both
Williams cars would return after brief stops as Vergne improved to be
seventh, 1m:41.545. Rosberg was on a quicker lap going fastest in sector two
finishing his lap with a 1m:40.178 to go quickest. Vettel had moved ahead of
Felipe to be sixth with Felipe now seventh. Valtteri would also find time
setting a 1m:40.213. It was reported that both Williams cars had taken front
wing changes on their stops. Valtteri would pit as Felipe also found time
setting a 1m:40.446 to be third seeing Williams two-three in the times.
With sixteen minutes remaining the track would become empty as drivers
returned to their pits to get ready for their qualifying simulations. First
back out on the soft tyre would be Raikkonen and Button. Rosberg and
Grosjean would also come out joined by more drivers. For Williams first out
would be Valtteri as Raikkonen started his first quick lap on the soft tyre.
Raikkonen would improve to be sixth, 1m:41.025, while Button would go
fourth, 1m:40.707. Felipe would also come out as Rosberg went fastest in the
final sector and Hamilton the first two. Hamilton would finish his lap
setting a 1m:38.726 to be quickest as Hulkenberg went sixth with a
1m:40.669. Perez was now ninth as Valtteri started his flying lap. Ricciardo
would improve to be fourth with a 1m:40.392 but Button would also pick up the pace on his second
lap setting a 1m;40.355 to be fourth.
Valtteri would finish his lap setting a 1m:39.650 to be second. Felipe as
third with a time fo 1m:39.998 but Rosberg would take this spot with a
1m:39.686. Felipe was now fourth followed by Kvyat, Raikkonen, Button,
Ricciardo, Vettel, and Hulkenberg in tenth. Hamilton would pit after having
set a quicker first sector time and having spun his car in the final turn.
Ricciardo would move up to fifth with a time of 1m:40.007 with team-mate
Vettel in ninth. Valtteri was able to find time on his last lap setting a
1m:39.097 to close the gap to Hamilton. But Rosberg would also find time
moving into second with a time of 1m:39.016. Other drivers to find time
would be Ricciardo who moved into fourth and Vergne who went eighth. With
the end of the session the order was Hamilton from Rosberg, Valtteri,
Ricciardo, Felipe, Kvyat, Raikkonen, Alonso, Vergne, Vettel, Button,
Hulkenberg, Perez, Sutil, and Gutierrez fifteenth.
With the end of the session the Williams cars would finish third and fifth
with both cars in the 1m:39s bracket. But they were still a considerable
margin behind Hamilton. But encouragingly was the fact that they were very
close to the second Mercedes of Rosberg. Several drivers, including the
Williams, had been able to get quicker and quicker despite putting more laps on the option tyre so it
would be interesting to see how the first period of qualifying turns out. |
