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Team Summary:
With qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix run on the Friday under the
Sprint format the opening eighteen minute period would commence with
everyone coming out on the soft tyre. This would include both Williams cars
as Tsunoda set a 1m:07.578 only to see Leclerc move ahead with a 1m:06.762
then to see Sainz move ahead with a 1m:06.363. But Sainz's time would be
deleted as Perez was now second from Norris and a Williams. The times would
rapidly change as Leclerc went fastest with a 1m:06.200 now followed by
Sainz, Schumacher, Magnussen and Alonso fifth. The only Williams with a time
was now eighth.
Russell would move into fourth but Ocon would move ahead while at the front
Verstappen was now quickest with a time of 1m:06.097 followed by Perez and
Alonso. But Verstappen's lap was also deleted seeing Perez quickest from
Alonso and Leclerc. Russell was again fourth as Hamilton went quickest with
a time of 1m:06.079. but it would again change as we now had Leclerc fastest
with a 1m:05.419 from Sainz and Verstappen. For Williams one car had its
time deleted seeing the pair now 19th and 20th. Hamilton was now fourth
followed by Perez, Alonso, Russell, Norris, Schumacher and Ocon tenth. Of
the Williams only one would make it into Q2 finishing in 14th while the
other was 19th.
The second period would commence with everyone again coming out on the soft
tyre. As the times came in we would have Hamilton quickest with a 1m:05.538
followed by Verstappen, Russell, Leclerc, Sainz, Perez, Ocon, Gasly and
Norris ninth. The remaining Williams was able to move into seventh but would
drop to eighth then ninth as the car pitted. Alonso would move into sixth as
the track emptied as drivers came in for a tyre change. With the next runs
Leclerc would go quickest with a time of 1m:05.287 from Hamilton and
Verstappen. More drivers were on their out laps and with the final lap in
the order was Leclerc, Verstappen, Hamilton, Sainz, Russell, Perez,
Magnussen, Ocon, Alonso and Schumacher. But the remaining Williams had been
knocked out but 12th was an massive encouragement for Williams.
The final period of qualifying would see the first runs completed with
Hamilton crashing seeing the period Red Flagged. But there would be another
Red Flag this time for the second Mercedes of Russell that would also crash.
With the final runs it would be Verstappen who would go quickest with a time
of 1m:04.984 followed by Leclerc, Sainz, Perez, Russell, Ocon, Magnussen,
Schumacher, Alonso, and Hamilton tenth. For Williams their positions for the
Saturday Sprint would see them start from 12th and 19th. Certainly an
encouraging result for Williams Racing with their new car showing some good
pace compared to their main rivals.
Alex Albon:
Alex would be out first for Williams in the opening qualifying period using
the soft tyre. Alex would set a 1m:07.283 to be fifth changing to fourth as
times were deleted. He would pit after a three lap run now and in the pits
would drop to 13th. He would return on a new set of soft tyres. His first
lap was a 1m:06.511 to be eighth. But his time was also deleted seeing him
drop to 18th. He would pit after another three lap run and would drop to
20th. But he would return for a final run on another set of soft tyres. He
would set a 1m:06.516 to be 14th and into Q2 just 0.11s off the top ten.
Alex would return on a used set of soft tyres and would be able to set a
1m:06.476 to be seventh dropping to eighth. After a three lap he would pit
now 12th as he waited to return. With the final minutes counting down Alex
would return and was able to set a 1m:06.230 to be 10th. With further times
he would drop to 12th and unfortunately was out of qualifying. But
regardless a great performance from Alex and the new car.
Nicholas Latifi:
Nicholas would be running in the opening qualifying period using the soft
tyre. He would set a time but it would be deleted and he would pit. He would
return on another set of new soft tyres and would set a 1m:07.109 to be
16th. This would become 17th as he pitted again after a three lap run. But
he would drop to 19th as he returned for a final run but with a 1m:07.003 he
would remain 19th and out of qualifying. |
