Australian GP: Issues for Williams in FP3

On a overcast morning the Williams Martini team would commence their Saturday morning practice for the 2014 Australian Grand Prix. Friday practice had seen the Williams drivers Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa finish in eighth and twelfth. Fastest was Hamilton from Rosberg. Both Williams drivers admitted that there was work to do as they were still someway of the pace of the Mercedes cars. There was a lot of discussion as to what extent drivers will want to run their cars. Vergne would be first out followed by Valtteri for Williams. There would be a rush of drivers coming out including the second Williams. For this early run the medium tyre was the favourite.

Drivers would pit after their installation lap including both Williams cars. Several drivers would complete practice starts prior to going out including Rosberg and Button. It was announced that rain was expected shortly as we had both Red Bull cars out on the track. Vergne and Gutierrez were both back out but Gutierrez would slow at the side of the track with a gearbox issue. For Williams Felipe was first back out still on the medium tyre. As drivers started to set times it would be Kvyat fastest with a 1m:32.605, followed by Magnussen, Perez, Vergne, Button, and Sutil sixth. Felipe's first time would be a 1m:38.462 to be seventh as Button went fastest with a 1m:32.604.

Sutil was now sixth but Vergne would take this spot as both Mercedes acrs resumed their places at the top of the times with Rosberg fastest with a 1m:31.583 and Hamilton a 1m:31.736. Felipe's next lap was a 1m:32.163 to be third as it was announced that Gutierrez was out for the session. Button was now fourth from Kvyat and Magnussen. With twenty minutes remaining Valtteri had yet to return to the track as Hamilton went fastest in sector one and two to finish with a 1m:30.919 to be quickest. Button would report that his traction was poor while Hamilton was saying that his tyres were overheating. Valtteri was finally out on the track as Felipe set a 1m:31.798 but remained third. But Valtteri would pit without setting a time followed by Felipe. Vettel and Raikkonen would move up to be fourth and fifth.

Hamilton would pit as Alonso set a 1m:33.577 on his first run to be twelfth with thirty minutes remaining. The track now only had three cars on it including both Ferrari's. But Raikkonen would pit after having a small off track moment only to come back out. Alonso would improve to now be fourth with a 1m:32.176. Valtteri was seen out of his driving suit so what ever was his issue he certainly had finished for the session. Felipe was back out again on the medium tyre. Both Hulkenberg and Maldonado were out running on the soft tyre. Hulkenberg would use his soft tyres to go second with a 1m:30.978. But Hamilton was still quicker with his time set on the medium tyre. Felipe was now fourth while Valtteri had not set a time with twenty minutes remaining in the session. Felipe would set a personal best in sector one having completed thirteen laps so far. Both Mercedes cars were back out with Hamilton having had a suspension change. Both cars were on the soft tyre with not a large numbers of drivers out on the track. Both Mercedes drivers were swapping fastest sector times with Rosberg going fastest with a 1m:29.375.

The sun was again shinning as Button went second with a 1m:30.766 running on the medium tyre. Hamilton would not improve on his time having run wide but he was now the only one. Felipe was back in his pit while Magnussen was out on the soft tyre finishing with a 1m:31.499 to be fifth. Alonso was now third, 1m:30.876, also on the soft tyre. Felipe was now eighth with ten minutes remaining. Ricciardo was now fifth also on the soft tyre with both Mercedes cars having pitted ending their session. There were still about half the field that had yet to try the soft tyre. Vettel was on a soft tyre run and was really fighting the car. Pat Symonds for Williams would say that for Valtteri they were having to take a gearbox change seeing him having to take a five grid place penalty. Felipe was back out this time of the soft tyre as Vettel sounded very unhappy with his car.

The session would come to a close with Felipe down in tenth and Valtteri not having set a time. Maldonado would stop out on the track in the final sector while Grosjean had not set a time. A bad weekend for Lotus as they struggle to get their car sorted out. A frustrating session for the Williams team with them again appearing to struggle for pace as well as having a reliability issue. But reports would say that Felipe was on a quick lap but had to slow as a result of Maldonado's issue. Fastest in the session was Rosberg from Button, Alonso, Hamilton, Ricciardo, Hulkenberg, Raikkonen, Magnussen, Perez, and Felipe tenth.

Pos  Driver         	Team		      Time     Laps
 1.  Nico Rosberg       Mercedes              1m29.375s  15
 2.  Jenson Button      McLaren-Mercedes      1m30.766s  20
 3.  Fernando Alonso    Ferrari               1m30.876s  11
 4.  Lewis Hamilton     Mercedes              1m30.919s  13
 5.  Daniel Ricciardo   Red Bull-Renault      1m30.970s  13
 6.  Nico Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes  1m30.978s  16
 7.  Kimi Räikkönen     Ferrari               1m31.156s  12
 8.  Kevin Magnussen    McLaren-Mercedes      1m31.251s  22
 9.  Sergio Perez       Force India-Mercedes  1m31.665s  17
10.  Felipe Massa       Williams-Mercedes     1m31.723s  20
11.  Daniil Kvyat       Toro Rosso-Renault    1m31.925s  17
12.  Sebastian Vettel   Red Bull-Renault      1m32.255s  14
13.  Jean-Eric Vergne   Toro Rosso-Renault    1m32.417s  16
14.  Jules Bianchi      Marussia-Ferrari      1m34.184s  15
15.  Adrian Sutil       Sauber-Ferrari        1m34.188s  16
16.  Kamui Kobayashi    Caterham-Renault      1m34.413s  19
17.  Max Chilton        Marussia-Ferrari      1m34.717s  15
18.  Pastor Maldonado   Lotus-Renault         1m34.754s  15
19.  Marcus Ericsson    Caterham-Renault      1m36.159s  21
20.  Valtteri Bottas    Williams-Mercedes                2
21.  Esteban Gutierrez  Sauber-Ferrari                   2
22.  Romain Grosjean    Lotus-Renault                    4