Japanese GP: Williams Martini drivers in top ten in FP1

Team Summary:
The opening Friday practice for the 2015 Japanese GP would see the Williams Martini team presented with a wet track. Both Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas would complete their installation lap running on full wet tyres. The cars were putting up high levels of spray on a track that had puddles of water in many places. As the final cars completed their installation laps the track would go quite. Last to go out would be Hamilton. It was looking very much that with the amount of water on the track there was little to be learnt by going out.

The first driver to return to the track would be Rosberg, but he would pit after a single lap. Thirty minutes of the session had been completed a no times had been set. Next out would be Hulkenberg and he would drive through the pit lane to complete some checks for his team prior to returning to the pits leaving the rack empty. Other drivers to have put in additional laps were Alonso and now Sainz. Vettel and Verstappen would also come out. Raikkonen and Rosberg would also take to the track. Verstappen would improve to set a 1m:51.640 with Sainz second followed by Rosberg and Raikkonen. Raikkonen was now third as both Williams drivers took to the track. The track had dried enough for them to run intermediates.

Rosberg was now quickest with a 1m:51.117 followed by Sainz and Verstappen. Button was also out on the track. Vettel would move up to second with both Torro Rosso cars having pitted. Under thirty minutes left in the session and only eight drivers had set a time. Rosberg would lower the quickest time with a 1m:50.77 with Vettel still second. Felipe would pit as Verstappen came back out this time on intermediates. Twenty minutes remaining and Verstappen would go second with a 1m:50.940. Kvyat was also out on intermediates and would go quickest with a 1m:49.938, but Sainz would set a 1m:49.434 to move ahead. Only ten drivers had set a time with ten minutes remaining. Both Williams cars would return to the track but it looked like it was getting wetter.

There was a mix on full wet and intermediate tyres in use as the Williams pair continued to put in laps but without any improvement. Felipe and Valtteri would drop to eighth and ninth as other drivers went quicker. The session would end with Sainz still quickest from Kvyat and Rosberg. Felipe and Valtteri would finish in eighth and tenth. It was mixed session with the times more an indication of whether you were out on the right tyre for the conditions.

Felipe Massa:
Felipe would be first out for the Williams team carefully completing his installation lap. Felipe would return to the track this time running on intermediate tyres. Felipe would set a 1m:53.097 to be sixth. His next lap was a 1m:52.288 to see him fifth. Felipe would go off the track at Turn nine running over the gravel but was able to continue. Felipe would ask the team if he could finish his run and he would pit. Felipe would drop to seventh. Felipe would return to the track for a second run on the used intermediates. "There is too much understeer, so I don't feel really great to be honest," Massa would say to his engineer. Felipe would make a mistake going through the S curves, taking to the grass. "I've got more aquaplaning so I think it's time to stop," Felipe asks his engineer and they agree.

Valtteri Bottas:
Valtteri would follow Felipe out running on the full wet tyres also completing just a single installation lap. Valtteri would follow Felipe out also on intermediate tyres. Valtteri had set a 1m:55.761 to be eighth. Valtteri had a huge twitch of his car in the S curves helping to explain his slow time. Valtteri would improve with a 1m:54.853 to be seventh. Valtteri would also pit having completed six laps. Valtteri was currently eighth. Valtteri would also come out for a second run. He would not improve and would drop to tenth. Valtteri's engineer would ask "Let me know if you want to continue if it's safe," with Valtteri replying "No, it's terrible."

Pos  Driver         	Team		        Time     Laps
1  Carlos Sainz		Toro Rosso-Renault	1m49.434s 10
2  Daniil Kvyat		Red Bull-Renault	1m49.938s 7
3  Nico Rosberg		Mercedes		1m50.077s 14
4  Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari			1m50.519s 12
5  Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes		1m50.722s 6
6  Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso-Renault	1m50.940s 10
7  Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari			1m51.212s 15
8  Felipe Massa		Williams-Mercedes	1m52.288s 12
9  Marcus Ericsson	Sauber-Ferrari		1m53.820s 12
10 Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	1m53.964s 14
11 Felipe Nasr		Sauber-Ferrari		1m54.013s 9
12 Jenson Button	McLaren-Honda		1m55.678s 6
13 Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull-Renault	-	  1
14 Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	-	  4
15 Sergio Perez		Force India-Mercedes	-	  3
16 Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Honda		-	  5
17 Pastor Maldonado	Lotus-Mercedes		-	  1
18 Jolyon Palmer	Lotus-Mercedes		-	  1
19 Will Stevens		Marussia-Ferrari	-	  3
20 Alexander Rossi	Marussia-Ferrari	-	  4