The opening Friday practice sessions for the 2021 Mexican GP would prove to be tough for Williams Racing as some of their issues would hamper their Friday programme in particular gearbox issues. For George Russell such were his issues that he would not set a time in the second session while Nicholas Latifi would finish only in 18th as the team worked to make sure he was not impacted by any gearbox issues as well. For George he had been forced to take a new gearbox for FP2 and this would have issues also seeing him forced to take a new gearbox for the rest of the weekend and suffer a grid penalty for Sundays race as a result. Despite all this the team is confident that they can get the most out of the car over the rest of the weekend.
Williams Racing Mexican GP Friday
Practice Review
Nicholas Latifi:
"Today was tricky. With the gearbox issue on the other side of the
garage we needed to understand the problem and make sure that didn’t
happen to me so unfortunately, we didn’t get through our full programme.
We still have FP3 to dial in the car though so it’s not all lost. We
learned what we needed to from the high fuel and, as we’ve seen in
previous years, getting the cooling levels correct through the power
unit and the brakes is so important here. Despite the issues, I think we
still got what we needed to get today."
George Russell:
"Unusually, we encountered several gearbox issues today and have
consequently had to take a new gearbox which will give us a grid
penalty. It’s not ideal but it’s Sunday where the points are awarded.
FP1 on the other hand was a strong session for us. The car was feeling
good, I found a decent rhythm and we showed some strong race pace. That
race pace is going to be critical as the high altitude makes it really
difficult for the cooling, for the brakes and for the power unit. If
we’re on top of that then I think we can be on the front foot for the
race."
Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance:
"We’ve had some issues today that hampered the programme, especially in
FP2. We found an issue with George’s gearbox at the end of FP1 and so we
opted to fit his race box for FP2. Unfortunately, this suffered with a
different failure during the first run of FP2. We reduced the running on
Nicholas’s car whilst we understood the problem and confirmed that he
wouldn’t suffer the same issue. George will now take a new gearbox,
which will leave him with a grid penalty on Sunday. This is frustrating,
but at least it happened today rather than during the race.
The car is behaving as we expected, with the low downforce dominating
and making the tyre management difficult. However, we have completed
some useful testing today despite the shortened running and we are
confident that we can get the most out of the car over the next couple
of days. Obviously, George has some catching up to do having lost FP2,
but with the car working reasonably well and his previous knowledge of
this track, he will do this quickly tomorrow."
Williams Racing Classification
Driver
Chassis
FP1
FP2
G. Russell
FW43B-04
1:20.517 (17th)
-
N Latifi
FW43B-02
1:21.580 (18th)
1:20.820 (18th)
Quickest Time
V. Bottas (1:18.341)
M. Verstappen (1:17.301)
Practice Conditions
FP1
FP2
Weather
Warm and dry conditions
Warm and dry conditions
Air
& Track Temp
15-20°C /31-43°C
20-22°C / 38-45°C
Mexican GP: Tough Friday for Williams Racing
Posted by: Williams F1 (IP Logged)
Date: 06/11/2021 03:39
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