Brazilian GP: Bottas encouraging 7th in FP1

Team Summary:
With the start of the opening Friday practice session for the 2015 Brazilian GP both Williams cars would take to the track early to complete their installation laps. Both Valtteri and Felipe were on the medium tyre. The first time would be set by Verstappen with a 1m:17.966 with Sainz second. Verstappen would improve with a 1m:16.157. Rosberg would set a 1m:15.940 to be quickest, followed by a 1m:15.564. Hamilton would go quickest with a 1m:15.102 with Valtteri now fourth. A 1m:15.124 from Rosberg with Vettel third behind the Mercedes. Hamilton would go quicker with a 1m:14.675, improving with a 1m:14.451. Rosberg was still second with a 1m:14.472. Both Williams drivers would complete their first runs currently seventh and thirteenth.

The track would go quite as the drivers pitted making sure that they would return the extra set of Pirelli tyres prior to the end of the first thirty minutes. The order was Hamilton, Rosberg, Vettel, Ricciardo, Perez, and Kvyat. Both Williams drivers would out of their cars as they discussed their first runs. Drivers would start to come back out with Raikkonen moving up to third and Verstappen fourth. With forty minutes remaining both Williams drivers were still in their pits. Hulkenberg and Perez were sixth and ninth. Vettel would go quickest with a 1m:14.233 but Rosberg would also improve with a 1m:14.090 to again be quickest. Thirty minutes remaining and Valtteri and Felipe were sixteenth and eighteenth. A 1m:14.168 from Vettel to remain second. But Hamilton would set a 1m:13.543 to be 0.5 ahead of Rosberg. Rosberg would set a 1m:14.087 to remain second.

After their return to the track Valtteri and Felipe would be eighth and sixteenth. The Williams team would comment that grip was an issue for both drivers. Ten minutes remaining and the track was quite busy as both Williams drivers continued their runs of the medium tyre. Both drivers continued to lock up their front tyres as they pitted after long runs. With the end of the session Valtteri would finish in seventh and Felipe seventeenth. Rob Smedley would say that Valtteri's performance was quite good given the level of fuel and how they run their engine in this session. He would also add that they went the opposite way on Felipe's car and that this would be fixed for the next session.

Felipe Massa:
Felipe would be one of the later cars to come out completing his installation lap. Felipe would return to the track with an hour fifteen remaining. Felipe would complete laps but would not set a time. Felipe's first time was a 1m:16.646 to be twelfth. Felipe would set a 1m:16.395 to be tenth. Felipe would have an off track moment hitting the kerb at the Senna S seeing him come back on at Turn two and he would pit. He would complain that the rear of the car was sliding around. In the pits Felipe would drop to fourteenth. After a long wait Felipe would return to the track with twenty three minutes remaining. Felipe would complete a practice start on his way out of the pits. A 1m:15.675 sees Felipe fifteenth. Felipe's car still looked a handful. He would improve slightly with a 1m:15.469. Felipe had completed fifteen laps as he pitted.

Valtteri Bottas:
Valtteri would be first out with the start of the session completing his installation lap. With ten minutes of the session completed Valtteri would come back out for his first timed laps. Valtteri's first timed lap was a 1m:16.567 to be fifth. Valtteri would improve with a 1m:16.298 to be fourth, dropping to sixth. A 1m:15.969 would see Valtteri remain sixth. He would drop to eighth then tenth. But a 1m:15.886 would see him seventh. He would pit having dropped to tenth. Valtteri would say that it felt like there was less grip compared to last year. With twenty minutes remaining Valtteri would also return to the track. A 1m:15.063 from Valtteri would see him eighth. He would improve with a 1m:14.886 to be seventh. Valtteri would pit as the session drew to a close.

Pos  Driver         	Team		        Gap      Laps
1  Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes		1m13.543s 28
2  Nico Rosberg		Mercedes		1m14.062s 36
3  Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari			1m14.168s 27
4  Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull-Renault	1m14.449s 27
5  Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari			1m14.549s 20
6  Daniil Kvyat		Red Bull-Renault	1m14.696s 25
7  Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	1m14.886s 25
8  Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso-Renault	1m14.960s 38
9  Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	1m15.174s 33
10 Pastor Maldonado	Lotus-Mercedes		1m15.192s 31
11 Carlos Sainz		Toro Rosso-Renault	1m15.314s 38
12 Jolyon Palmer	Lotus-Mercedes		1m15.352s 33
13 Jenson Button	McLaren-Honda		1m15.379s 28
14 Felipe Nasr		Sauber-Ferrari		1m15.381s 29
15 Sergio Perez		Force India-Mercedes	1m15.408s 32
16 Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Honda		1m15.413s 29
17 Felipe Massa		Williams-Mercedes	1m15.469s 24
18 Marcus Ericsson	Sauber-Ferrari		1m15.798s 34
19 Alexander Rossi	Marussia-Ferrari	1m17.860s 23
20 Will Stevens		Marussia-Ferrari	1m18.090s 22