European GP: Encouraging start from Williams in FP1

With the AT&T Williams team coming to Valencia with several new updates for their FW32, as well as again running with their F-Duct system during the weekend, they would commence the opening hour and a half practice for the 2010 European Grand Prix. Bridgestone had brought the super-soft and medium compound tyres for this race. With many of the teams coming to this race with updates the practice sessions would be even more important as these updates were evaluated. The session would get underway with the drivers completing their installation laps. Nico Hulkenberg would be the first of the Williams drivers to come out. Christain Klien was out in the HRT car replacing Chandhok for this session.

Rubens Barrichello would come out and pit after one installation lap. With seven minutes of the session completed only Hamilton had yet to come out. Paul Di Resta was also running again for Force India as Nico returned to the track as Schumacher pitted leaving just Nico but he would also pit leaving the track empty. The track was very dusty as Virgin's Di Grassi and Rubens would return to the circuit with an hour and fifteen remaining. Webber was next out while Rubens would again pit. Webber was joined by Button as Di Grassi started a flying lap. He would eventually set a time of 1m:49.569 with the cars starting to kick up lots of dust. Button would seta time of 1m:43.245 while Di Grassi had improved with a 1m:47.938. Webber would pit after completing several laps but not setting a time.

Rubens would show off his Brazil racing boots to the camera while Di Grassi lowered his time with a 1m:47.356. Button would pit while Rosberg took to the track. Klien was also out in his HRT along with Hamilton and Glock. Senna was next out while Klein set a time of 1m:51.583 to be 8.3 seconds off the pace. Rosberg had pitted while Schumacher was also back out on his first visit to the circuit. Hamilton was now second, 1m:46.026, while Alguersuari took to the track. Di Grassi would pit as Glock set a 1m:55.342 to be slowest while Klein had improved with a 1m:49.502, to be fourth. Senna was fifth from Glock as Buemi took to the track joined by Kobayashi. Hamilton would pit with an hour remaining. Glock would move up to third with a time of 1m:46.824. But he would be passed by Alguersuari with a 1m:46.066.

Kobayashi was now second, 1m:44.476, from Alguersuari, Hamilton, Glock, Di Grassi, Klien, and Senna. We now had both Lotus cars out on the circuit as Buemi moved into third, 1m:44.609. Senna had lost a mirror and Buemi would run over it. Kobayashi would improve with a 1m:43.777 while Nico took to the track along with Vettel. With thirty five minutes completed only nine drivers had set a time. Kovalainen would move into ninth, 1m:47.480, as Nico pitted. The session would be red flagged seeing everyone pit. It would appear that the session was stopped to allow the marshals to clear up the remains of Senna's mirror. With the restart of the session many more drivers would take to the track, including both Williams drivers.

Schumacher would set a time of 1m:42.369 to go fastest while Massa would move up to second with a time of 1m:43.218. Team-mate Alonso was able to move ahead with a 1m:42.744 to be second. Nico was now in sixth with a 1m:43.686. Rosberg was now second, 1m:42.639, from Alonso, Massa, Button, Nico, Kobayashi, and Buemi. Kubica was up to fourth, 1m:42.885, while Rubens was now eleventh, 1m:43.884. Rosberg was now fastest with a 1m:41.862 while Button would move ahead of Schumacher to take second, 1m:42.247. Schumacher had pitted as Massa moved up to fourth from Alonso, Kubica, De la Rosa, Nico, Kobayashi, Buemi, and Rubens still in eleventh. Rosberg would pit with Vettel the only driver not to set a time. Nico would improve to be fifth, 1m:42.707, while Webber was down in seventeenth. Kubica was now second, 1m:41.883, from Button and Schumacher. Hamilton was now in third, 1m:41.971, while Webber had moved up to ninth, 1m:43.223. Nico had pitted, currently in eighth, while Rubens would improve to move from fifteenth to take eighth from Nico. So we had the Williams drivers in eighth and ninth with thirty five minutes of the session left.

Hamilton was now fastest with a time of 1m:41.339 from Button, Rosberg, and Kubica. Rubens would pit with both Williams drivers having completed nine laps. Vettel was up to eleventh, 1m:42.801, while team-mate Webber would move up to sixth, 1m:42.291. Rubens and Nico were now ninth and tenth. Hamilton would pit joined by Button. Vettel was on an improved lap as Trulli took to the escape road after locking up at Turn two. Vettel would fail to move from eleventh while Nico would return to the track after changes having been made to his car. With twenty eight minutes remaining the track was fairly quite with Hamilton fastest from Button, Rosberg, Kubica, Massa, Webber, Schumacher, Alonso, Rubens, and Nico. Vettel was able to find some time moving up to sixth with a time of 1m:42.216.

Rubens would also take to the track. Both cars were testing their blown rear wing during the session. Nico would improve his time with a 1m:42.707 but remained in eleventh. Kubica was back out and shortly after Nico would come back in to the pit lane. De la Rosa would leave the pit lane along with Schumacher, Kobayashi, and both Lotus cars. Next out was Rosberg with twenty minutes left in the session. Vettel would join him while both HRT cars were not likely to come back out as both were suffering mechanical problems. More drivers were coming out including Hamilton and Massa. Rubens continued to put in further laps as Button came back out with fifteen minutes left. Rosberg would go fastest with a 1m:41.175 using his F-Duct to go effect. De la Rosa took to the run off area at Turn two returning to the track. Vettel was still sixth and Webber seventh. Rubens would pit while Nico would come back out.

Rubens and Nico were still in tenth and eleventh. Rosberg was still fastest from Hamilton, Button, Kubica, Massa, Vettel, Webber, and Schumacher in eighth. Rubens was now back out with seven minutes remaining. The track would get very busy as the session drew to a close as the drivers continued to have to deal with the fact that there were only allowed to run with a single set of the medium tyres. As the final minutes counted down it would be surprising to see any drivers improving. Webber would pit and we would see the final minutes wind down and the session would come to an end. The order would not change with Rosberg still fastest from Hamilton, Button, Kubica, Massa, Vettel, Webber, Schumacher, Alonso, Rubens, and Nico in eleventh.

It was an uneventful session for the Williams team as they worked through their programme for the session. The F-Duct system did not appear to be making a big difference in the speed of the FW32 as neither Williams driver were listed in the speed trap lists. At least both Williams drivers had set very similar times during the session.

Pos  Driver         Team		    Time      Laps
 1.  Rosberg        Mercedes                1:41.175  16
 2.  Hamilton       McLaren-Mercedes        1:41.339  19
 3.  Button         McLaren-Mercedes        1:41.383  21
 4.  Kubica         Renault                 1:41.715  20
 5.  Massa          Ferrari                 1:42.182  21
 6.  Vettel         Red Bull-Renault        1:42.216  24
 7.  Webber         Red Bull-Renault        1:42.275  17
 8.  Schumacher     Mercedes                1:42.312  18
 9.  Alonso         Ferrari                 1:42.421  22
10.  Barrichello    AT&T Williams-Cosworth  1:42.463  21
11.  Hulkenberg     AT&T Williams-Cosworth  1:42.707  23
12.  Petrov         Renault                 1:42.962  17
13.  Buemi          Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1:43.310  23
14.  Liuzzi         Force India-Mercedes    1:43.380  19
15.  de la Rosa     Sauber-Ferrari          1:43.397  21
16.  di Resta       Force India-Mercedes    1:43.437  18
17.  Kobayashi      Sauber-Ferrari          1:43.729  21
18.  Alguersuari    Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1:44.183  21
19.  Kovalainen     Lotus-Cosworth          1:44.491  21
20.  Glock          Virgin-Cosworth         1:45.653  23
21.  Senna          HRT-Cosworth            1:47.123  17
22.  Trulli         Lotus-Cosworth          1:47.285  18
23.  Chandhok       HRT-Cosworth            1:47.343  14
24.  di Grassi      Virgin-Cosworth         1:47.356  24