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Driver: Valtteri
Bottas
Chassis / Engine: FW36-03 / PU106A Hybrid
Location: Bahrain International Circuit 5.412km
Objectives: Set-up work, long runs and qualifying simulation
Weather: Hot and sunny Maximum air & track temps: 26ºC / 30ºC
On the Williams F1 teams final day of pre-season testing it would be
Valtteri Bottas carrying out the driving duties. With the start of the day
Valtteri would be straight out onto the track completing his installation
lap running on the soft tyre. In the first half hour Very quickly Valtteri
would drop his lap times into the 1m:36s to be quickest on the track with a
1m:36.592. After two quick laps Valtteri would back off dropping into the
1m:51s. Valtteri would lower his lap time to a 1m:36.281 to remain quickest
but after an hour and a half it would be Alonso who would go fastest with a
1m:35.509 seeing Valtteri second some 0.772 behind the Ferrari.
The Williams team would report that Valtteri would work through a "pretty
similar" programme to Massa's yesterday. Felipe had set the fastest lap
around the Bahrain circuit so far with a low-fuel run, so expect some
similar late-session runs from Valtteri today. While Alonso pitted Valtteri
would improve his lap time setting a 1m:35.563 to be just 0.054 behind the
Ferrari, running on the medium tyre. Valtteri would pit allowing the team to
make further changes to the FW36, nearly two hours into the final day.
Valtteri had completed twenty nine laps at this time.
Valtteri would return to the track and would return to the top of the times
with a 1m:35.153. Valtteri would continue to put in further laps but his
times had dropped by 2 seconds. The Williams team would confirm that the
morning session would see the focus on mechanical and aero work with the
afternoon seeing long and short runs planned. Valtteri's current quickest
time is the sixth fastest time seen at Bahrain this week per driver, but is
still three seconds behind of what his team-mate Felipe produced on his
qualifying simulation last night. But Valtteri had yet to use the super soft
tyres. But Valtteri would continue to find pace being the first driver today
to set a time in the 1m:34s with a 1m:34.797. Valtteri would back off for
lap and then would set a series of lap times in the 1m:36s. He would return
to the pits after this run.
Valtteri would return to the track but would be forced to pit with a red
flag. With the return to green Valtteri would come back out for another run.
After a run Valtteri would stop short of the Williams pit allowing himself
room to do a practice start prior to returning to his garage. Another red
flag would see the lunch time break come a bit early with Valtteri having
completed sixty laps. The break would finish but quickly we would see
another red flag. The track would be cleared and the session would restart.
But just as quickly another red flag would be shown as a Lotus stopped out
on the track. With two and a half hours remaining Valtteri had completed
eighty seven laps.
With the restart Valtteri would remain in his pit talking over the data with
his engineers ahead of his next run. Valtteri would return to the track but
another red flag and the session would again be delayed with Valtteri
strapped in his car waiting in his garage. He would return but another red
flag would see the session stopped again. Prior to the stop Valtteri had
completed ninety three laps. Green again with an hour remaining in
pre-season testing. Valtteri would return running on soft tyres as Alonso
moved into second with a 1m:35.394. It was announced that the session would
be extended by twenty five minutes as Valtteri went fastest in the first
sector. He would complete the lap setting a 1m:33.987 to be 1.3 seconds
faster than Alonso. But the Williams team would how have to deal with a
problem with Valtteri's car as he had stopped on the main straight next to
the pit wall.
Valtteri's car would quickly be pushed back into the Williams pit and while
the Williams team investigated the cause of the stoppage Hamilton would go
fastest with a 1m:33.278, seeing Valtteri now second by 0.709. It was
reported by Williams that Valtteri had suffered an engine failure on a unit
that had high mileage on it. Prior to his stop Valtteri had completed one
hundred and eight laps. Hamilton was out on super soft tyres but would not
set a time close to his previous best. The session would come to an end with
Valtteri second on the day and Felipe Massa fastest overall from his time
set yesterday. A very positive end to pre-season testing fro the Williams F1
team.
Rod Nelson, Chief Test & Support Engineer: It was another good day
for the Williams Mercedes FW36 to bring winter testing to a conclusion here
in Bahrain. We ran a similar programme with Valtteri as we did with Felipe
yesterday, starting off with some chassis and aero tests this morning. We
did some long runs after the lunch break to look at tyre degradation before
moving on to a qualifying simulation. Towards the end of simulation, and
before we were able to fit the supersoft tyres, we had a high mileage
failure in the Internal Combustion Engine. With the number of laps we have
put on it, it wasn’t a big surprise but it was still a shame that Valtteri
couldn't get that final chance to push. However, with an overall team total
of 936 laps under our belt, we are still pleased that that is the only time
the FW36 has stopped on track throughout testing. We end the pre-season
running feeling very happy with the car, power unit, drivers and team.
Everything is working together as it should and we are pleased with the
direction that the team is going in.
Valtteri Bottas: I think our final day of testing was very good,
right up to a very unlucky failure just one run before the end. Overall, it
was a still a good day as we had no other issues throughout and made a lot
of progress with the car set-up. I think with this amount of testing we are
as prepared for Melbourne as we can be. The team has done a great job and
thank you also to Mercedes-Benz. We still need to work very hard in these
next two weeks but I overall I’m happy with how testing has gone for us. As
I didn’t have the chance to do a quick time on the supersoft tyre today, I
am looking forward to picking up where we left off when we get to Melbourne.
Williams will be back on track tomorrow, Sunday 2 March, with Valtteri
Bottas in the Williams Mercedes FW36 for the fourth and final day of the
test. |
