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Team Summary:
With the positions of the Williams Racing drivers for the Sprint decided the
Saturday practice session would give the team more time in assessing their
upgraded FW44. With the start of the session drivers would start to come out
with a mix of medium and soft tyres being used. Norris and both Aston
Martins were on the soft tyre for their first runs and as times started to
come in and it would be Bottas quickest with a 1m:12.309 only to see Norris
move ahead with a 1m:11.410 on the soft tyre. Both Astons had switched to
the medium tyre as Verstappen came out using used soft tyres. Norris would
improve with a 1m:10.670 followed by Magnussen and Zhou.
Perez was next out with five minutes completed and the first of the Williams
would come out. Leclerc was now quickest with a 1m:09.620 now followed by
Sainz and Norris. The second Williams was now running also using used soft
tyres. Verstappen was now fastest with a 1m:09.170 with Sainz now second
followed by Leclerc. Verstappen would improve his quickest time with a
1m:08.966 still followed by Sainz and Leclerc. Gasly was fourth followed by
Norris, Russell, Ricciardo, Alex, Perez, and Tsunoda tenth. The Williams
pair were currently 8th and 11th doing longer runs on the soft tyre.
Russell on the soft would improve to be third. There was a split between the
rivers with some using the medium and an equal number using the soft. The
Williams drivers were currently sixth and 14th. Both Alpines were running
for the first time with Alonso on the soft now fourth and Ocon sixth. This
would see the Williams pair now 11th and 16th with thirty minutes remaining.
Both Williams would return for runs on the medium tyre. The order was
Verstappen from Alonso, Sainz, Perez, Russell, Norris, Leclerc, Zhou, Ocon
and Gasly tenth. On the soft tyre Leclerc would go quickest with a time of
1m:08.660. Second was Verstappen but this would become third as Sainz on the
soft went fastest with a 1m:08.610. Fourth was Alonso followed by Ocon,
Perez, Russell, Bottas, Norris and Stroll.
Fifteen minutes remaining Hamilton would finally see his car repaired and
was out for his first run. Both Williams drivers were carrying out longer
runs on the medium tyres most likely in preparation for Sundays race. On the
soft Hamilton was now ninth with eight minutes remaining in the session. The
session would come to an end with the Williams drivers completing practice
starts with one using the medium and the other the soft for comparison.
Sainz would remain fastest from Leclerc, Verstappen, Alonso, Ocon, Perez,
Russell, Bottas, Hamilton and Norris tenth. As for Williams Racing their
drivers would finish the session in 16th and 20th. With Nicholas slowest
this result in the older car was not unexpected but it was difficult to
assess the performance of the upgraded FW44 of Albon. His times could have
been impacted by the type of program he was running with their soft tyre
times set on used tyres which would have not helped. Plus it did seem that
both drivers were well fuelled up of the session which would have impacted
ion their times.
Alex Albon:
Alex would follow his team-mate out also using used soft tyres. Alex would
set a 1m:11.143 to be seventh. This would become eighth but with a 1m:10.934
would see an improvement but he remained eighth having being seventh. A
1m:10.834 would see him again seventh but a 1m:10.592 would see him remain
in this position dropping to eighth. But with a 1m:10.166 he would move up
to be seventh. With eleven laps completed Alex would set a 1m:09.975 to be
sixth. He would pit after a 12 lap run but he would return after a brief
stop the pit again. As others went quicker he would drop to be 11th. Alex
would returning on the medium tyres and was able to set a 1m:09.827 followed
by a 1m:09.740 to now be 14th, becoming 15th. He would pit after a seventeen
lap run and with the end of the session he would return to be able to
complete his practice start ending his session in 16th.
Nicholas Latifi:
Nicholas would start his session using used soft tyres. He would set a
1m:12.268 to be 11th and slowest. After a two lap run Nicholas would pit but
would quickly return still on the soft tyre currently 14th. But with a
1m:11.239 Nicholas would improve to be ninth dropping to 11th. A further
improvement for Nicholas with a 1m:11.028 and he was currently 12th and then
a 1m:10.976 but he would not improve position. He would pit after a eleven
lap run and like Alex would again only pit briefly returning only to pit
again currently 14th. This would become 16th as others set times. Nicholas
would return this time on the medium tyre and with a 1m:10.448 he would
improve to be 15th. But as quicker times were set and even with a 1m:10.261
Nicholas would drop to be 19th and then 20th. With seventeen laps completed
Nicholas would pit and as the session ended he would return to be able to
complete his practice start.
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