Australian GP Friday 1st Practice

The Williams F1 team would prepare for the opening Friday practice session for the 2013 Australian Grand Prix. The team would be using Friday to assess different sidepod configurations. Valtteri Bottas would go out stopping in the pitlane to have flow viz sprayed over the rear of his car. The first driver to go out was Ricciardo followed by Grosjean. Pirelli had brought the medium and supersoft tyre for this event. Both Williams cars would complete their installation laps coming back in for system checks.

With thirty minutes of the session completed both Williams drivers were still in their pits looking at an empty track. The track temp was now 30 degrees Celsius and rising. Alonso would be the first back out but would pit after one lap. Valtteri would return to his car but would follow proceedings on his monitor. Pastor Maldonado would also prepare to go back out as Ricciardo set a 1m:36.089 to record the first time. He would improve with a 1m:31.946 as the track started to get busier. A 1m:30.969 from Ricciardo with Vergne second. For Williams Valtteri would be first back out joined by Pastor. Valtteri would move up to third, 1m:31.104, but he would drop to fourth as Raikkonen went fastest, 1m:29.029. Pastor was sixth with a
1m:31.489.

Valtteri would improve with a 1m:30.098 as Pastor moved up to second with a 1m:30.058. Raikkonen was able to find further pace setting a 1m:28.095. We now had the Williams drivers second and third with thirty five minutes remaining. A 1m:27.877 from Raikkonen with the track now very busy. A 1m:29.928 from Valtteri to move ahead of Pastor. Valtteri would pit currently sixth. Pastor would improve with a 1m:29.443 to be fifth while Valtteri had dropped to tenth. Both drivers were doing aero and tyre work in this session. Alonso would go straight to the top of the times with a 1m:27.547. Pastor had also pitted with the Williams drivers now fourteenth and fifteenth. At the front the order was Alonso, Hamilton, Raikkonen, Massa, Rosberg, Sutil, Vettel, Button, and Hulkenberg tenth.

Vettel would go fastest with a 1m:27.320. Valtteri would return to the track while at the front Massa had gone fastest but Vettel would move back ahead with a 1m:27.211 while Alonso moved into third. Pastor was again back on the track joining Valtteri. Valtteri would set a 1m:30.869 which saw him fail to improve remaining fifteenth. Pastor would also fail to improve but according to Sky's Martin Brundle he was of the opinion that Williams was running high downforce. Valtteri would again pit as the track was again very busy with under ten minutes remaining. Replays had shown Pastor running wide at Turn five taking to the grass and spraying dirt everywhere. Valtteri was back out with five minutes remaining. Across the board lap times were slower with the tyres past their prime.

The session would come to an end with Pastor and Valtteri remaining in fourteenth and fifteenth. The team was somewhat down the order but they had already stated that this session would be one where they would be assessing various aerodynamic configurations. At the top Vettel was still fastest with a 1m:27.211 from Massa, Alonso, Hamilton, Webber, Raikkonen, Rosberg, Sutil, Button, and Grosjean tenth.

Pos  Driver         	  Team		       Time      Laps
 1.  Sebastian Vettel     Red Bull-Renault     1m27.211s 16
 2.  Felipe Massa         Ferrari              1m27.289s 17
 3.  Fernando Alonso      Ferrari              1m27.547s 16
 4.  Lewis Hamilton       Mercedes             1m27.552s 18
 5.  Mark Webber          Red Bull-Renault     1m27.668s 18
 6.  Kimi Räikkönen       Lotus-Renault        1m27.877s 17
 7.  Nico Rosberg         Mercedes             1m28.013s 17
 8.  Adrian Sutil         Force India-Mercedes 1m28.426s 19
 9.  Jenson Button        McLaren-Mercedes     1m28.440s 19
10.  Romain Grosjean      Lotus-Renault        1m28.520s 15
11.  Sergio Perez         McLaren-Mercedes     1m28.597s 19
12.  Nico Hulkenberg      Sauber-Ferrari       1m28.786s 19
13.  Paul di Resta        Force India-Mercedes 1m28.910s 18
14.  Pastor Maldonado     Williams-Renault     1m29.443s 20
15.  Valtteri Bottas      Williams-Renault     1m29.928s 19
16.  Esteban Gutierrez    Sauber-Ferrari       1m30.203s 17
17.  Jean-Eric Vergne     Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m30.729s 17
18.  Daniel Ricciardo     Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m30.969s 19
19.  Jules Bianchi        Marussia-Cosworth    1m31.263s 24
20.  Max Chilton          Marussia-Cosworth    1m32.176s 23
21.  Charles Pic          Caterham-Renault     1m32.274s 21
22.  Giedo van der Garde  Caterham-Renault     1m32.388s 18