German GP: Williams F1 qualifying a difficult time

After struggling in the practice sessions leading up to qualifying for the 2013 German Grand Prix the hope was that the Williams F1 could find some pace to bring them closer to the front of the grid. But it was going to be difficult with Pastor Maldonado and Valtteri Bottas only managing seventeenth and eighteenth in the final practice. For the weekend Pirelli had brought the medium and soft tyre with the track temperature higher than in the morning. The first twenty minute period would commence with no real rush of drivers coming out but finally we would see Di Resta come out on the medium tyre. Bianchi was next out on the soft tyre followed by Chilton. Van der Gar and Sutil were next out along with Pic and Pastor for Williams.

Valtteri would join Pastor out on the track with both Williams on the soft tyre. Di Resta would set a 1m:41.226 followed by Bianchi with a 1m:34.056. Chilton would go second while on his second lap Di Resta would set a 1m:32.911 toi be quickest. But Pastor would move ahead with a 1m:31.834 with Valtteri moving into second with a 1m:31.836. Both Mercedes cars were out along with Perez and Ricciardo. The Mercedes cars were on the medium tyre. Di Resta was now third followed by Sutil, Gutierrez, Bianchi, and Pic seventh. Both Williams drivers would pit while Vergne had left the pit lane. Gutierrez was now third with a time of 1m:32.503 while Rosberg was on a quick lap. Ricciardo would go fastest with a 1m:31.081 while Rosberg was now second with a 1m:31.322.

Hamilton was now second with a 1m:31.131 as more drivers came out. Quite a few drivers were on the soft tyre for their first runs. This would include the Ferrari of Alonso with seven minutes remaining in the period. We now had both red Bull cars on the track. Vergne was now fourth with a time of 1m:31.629. Pastor and Valtteri had dropped to fifth and sixth as Alonso completed his lap setting a 1m:30.709. Vettel was now fourth, 1m:31.269, and Webber now sixth. Valtteri was back out as Raikkonen went fastest with a time of 1m:30.676, running on the soft tyres. Massa was out on the soft tyre and would set a 1m:31.176 to be fifth. Grosjean was now sixth and Vettel seventh. Pastor and Valtteri were now fourteenth and fifteenth.

Pastor was still in his pit with two minutes remaining. On the soft tyre Button would move up to sixth with a time of 1m:31.181. Webber was now down in twelfth as Pastor returned to the track. Valtteri would move ahead of Pastor with a 1m:31.693 as Massa went fastest with a 1m:30.547. The session would come to an end as Hulkenberg moved up to sixth, 1m:31.132. Perez would move into fourteenth pushing Valtteri and Pastor into seventeenth and eighteenth. Pastor's final lap was a 1m:31.707 but this was now enough to get him into the second period. At the front it was Massa from Raikkonen, Alonso, Ricciardo, Hamilton, Hulkenberg, Button, Grosjean, Vettel, and Sutil tenth. So we had the sight of neither Williams car getting past the first period. Could it get any worse.

The second period would see Vergne set a 1m:31.285 on the soft tyre with the track very busy with just the Red Bull's and the McLaren's still in their pits. Di Resta was now fastest with a 1m:31.258. Gutierrez was now third as Perez came out. Raikkonen would go fastest with a 1m:30.575 with Grosjean now second. Di Resta was third followed by Vergne, Hulkenberg, Gutierrez, Sutil, and Rosberg. Hamilton would ste the first quick time with a 1m:301.52 to be quickest by several tenths. Alonso was now third with a 1m:30.671. Rosberg was on a quicker second lap and would set a 1m:30.326 to be second.

The Red Bulls were only going to do one lap as they were still in their pits. Button would move up to tenth, 1m:31.542, while team-mate Perez was on a quicker lap. Both Webber and Vettel were out on the track as Perez set a 1m:32.074 which was only good enough for fourteenth. Grosjean was back out followed by Alonso. Neither Red Bull were able to be quicker than Hamilton in the first sector. But Vettel would go fastest in sector two and he would complete his lap to be quickest with a 1m:29.992. Webber was in third with a 1m:30.217. Grosjean was an even quicker lap going fastest in the first two sectors. He would finish with a 1m:30.005 to be just a fraction behind Vettel.

Gutierrez was in eighth as Massa went fastest in sector one. Alonso was on a quicker lap seeing him finish with a 1m:29.962. Perez was on a better lap setting a 1m:30.993 to be eighth. Massa was now fastest with a 1m:29.825. Ricciardo was now seventh with Hulkenberg was now eighth. Raikkonen would finish his final lap to be second with a time of 1m:29.852. This would see Rosberg dropped out of the top ten with Mercedes getting it very wrong. So with the end of the period Massa was fastest from Raikkonen, Alonso, Vettel, Grosjean, Hamilton, Webber, Ricciardo, Hulkenberg, and Button tenth.

The final ten minute period would commence with Alonso first out followed by Massa and Ricciardo. Raikkonen and Vettel would also come out with the question now being who had new soft tyres and how many. Both Ferrari's were out on used soft tyres. Raikkonen was on new tyres along with the Red Bull cars. Button and Hulkenberg had yet to come out as Ricciardo came back on without setting a time. Both Hamilton and Raikkonen were on quick laps with Raikkonen setting a 1m:29.970 but Vettel would move ahead with a 1m:29.622. Webber was now third as Hamilton went fastest with a 1m:29.540. Grosjean was now fifth running on used tyres.

Button had left his pit while both Ferrari's had pitted. After their first runs the drivers would pit but but Alonso and Massa came back out. Vettel was now back out followed by Raikkonen and Webber. Alonso was out on the medium tyre showing that they wanted to start the race on that tyre. Everyone was now out on the track including Hulkenberg. So far only five drivers had set times while Massa and Alonso would set very slow times as Vettel started his lap. Vettel would set a 1m:29.501 to go fastest but Hamilton and Webber had yet to set a time. Webber was on a quick lap joined by Hamilton. Webber would go third but Hamilton would set a new quickest time with a 1m:29.398. So Vettel was second from Webber, Raikkonen, Grosjean, Ricciardo, Massa, Alonso, Button and Hulkenberg. Neither Button and Hulkenberg had set a time.

For the Williams F1 team Sunday's race was again going to be hard time for both Pastor and Valtteri with both driver having to fight from the rear of the grid in a car that is really not showing any signs of improvement despite all the efforts by the team.