Spanish GP: Frustrating qualifying for Williams Martini

Team Summary:
Q1: The first time of the eighteen minute period would be from Wehrlein with a 1m:26.148 only to be beaten by Haryanto, 1m:26.048. The soft tyre was the tyre of choice for this period as Ericsson went quickest. A 1m:25.851 from Nasr to go quickest. Both Williams cars were still in their pits as Hamilton went fastest with a 1m:23.214. A 1m:23.002 to move ahead of his team-mate. Under ten minutes remaining and more drivers were coming out but it was looking like the Williams drivers would be last out. Perez was now third followed by Hulkenberg. Magnussen would move ahead of Hulkenberg as Verstappen went third with Raikkonen now fourth.

Finally both Williams drivers were out on the track. Vettel was now fifth followed by Sainz and Alonso. After their first runs Valtteri Bottas was sixth and Felipe Massa thirteenth. Ricciardo would move up to fourth. Valtteri and Felipe would drop to seventh and fourteenth. The period would end with Rosberg still fastest from Hamilton. Hulkenberg would move up to eighth. Those not making the cut were Palmer, Felipe, Ericsson, Nasr, Wehrlein, and Haryanto.

Q2: The second period would get underway with both Mercedes cars out first. A 1m:22.159 from Hamilton with Rosberg second with a 1m:22.759. Sainz would move into third followed by Perez and Hulkenberg. Alonso was now fourth and Grosjean now fifth. Ricciardo would move up to third seeing everyone drop down one place. Valtteri was now fourth dropping to fifth when Verstappen went third. Vettel was now fourth seeing Valtteri drop to sixth. Raikkonen had yet to set a time. Raikkonen would set a 1m:23.504 to be fourth followed by Vettel.

The top ten would be Hamilton, Rosberg, Verstappen, Raikkonen, Ricciardo, Vettel, Perez, Valtteri, Sainz and Alonso. Those not making the cut were Hulkenberg, Button, Kvyat, Grosjean, Magnussen, and Gutierrez.

Q3: Both Mercedes cars were out early in the final twelve minute period. Hamilton was on a lap quicker than Rosberg setting a1m:23.277 but would make one mistake, lock up at Turn Ten, seeing Rosberg move head with a 1m:22.475. Both Mercedes would pit as Raikkonen went third. It was looking like Valtteri would only come out for one timed lap with under six minutes remaining. Valtteri had used an extra set of soft tyres in Q2. Verstappen would go second with a 1m:23.203. Vettel and Raikkonen were now fourth and fifth. Everyone was now out on the track including Valtteri. Hamilton would go quickest with a 1m:22.000 with Rosberg second with a 1m:22.280. Ricciardo was now third having been second. Verstappen was now fourth followed by Raikkonen, Vettel, Valtteri, Sainz, Perez, and Alonso tenth.

Not the result that the Williams team would have hoped for with one car in seventh and the other in eighteenth. Sundays race is going to be a difficult one in terms of seeing a good points scoring result.

Felipe Massa:
Q1: Felipe would follow his team-mate out for his first run. Felipe would finish with a 1m:24.941 to only be thirteenth. Felipe would also drop one place to be fourteenth and looking close to not making the cut. Felipe would also pit coming back out on a new set of soft tyres but he would pit without having set another time. Felipe was now in eighteenth and out of qualifying. One can only expect that there was an issue that stopped in from completing his second timed lap. Reports had it being a timing mistake by the team that stopped him from setting another time. The team did not give him enough time when he came out.