European GP: Positive start for Williams Martini in FP1

Team Summary:
Both Williams Martini cars would complete two installation laps prior to pitting. The first time would be set by Rosberg with a 1m:57.306. His next lap was a 1m:53.481. He would again improve with a 1m:51.430 with Hamilton second. Rosberg would continue to lower his time with a 1m:50.100 with Valtteri now second. A 1m:50.950 from Hamilton would see him second. He would improve with a 1m:49.174 to move ahead of Rosberg. More cars were coming out with an hour and ten minutes remaining. A 1m:48.214 from Hamilton seeing him remain quickest. Valtteri would move up to second with Rosberg third, 1m:49.837.

Verstappen was fourth followed by Button with Felipe now sixth. Button would move into fourth ahead of Verstappen. Rosberg was able to move back into second with a 1m:48.473. More drivers would start to have moments as they pushed the limits. Turn fifteen was proving to be difficult. Valtteri would improve to be quickest with a 1m:47.707. Team-mate Felipe was now tenth. Both Williams cars would pit with the first forty minutes completed. At this time all the teams had to return this set of tyres. Both Mercedes cars were now back out on the supersoft tyre with the pair the only cars on the track. Both were on quick laps with Rosberg setting a 1m:46.812 to go quickest but Hamilton would set a 1m:46.489 to move ahead.

Alonso was up to fourth while Hamilton went quicker with a 1m:46.435. Perez and Hulkenberg were now fifth and sixth. After their next runs on the soft tyre Valtteri and Felipe were third and sixth as the Williams team started the final thirty minutes of the session. The session would be red flagged when Ricciardo would crash heavily having hit the barrier at Turn fifteen. He would slide his car into the barrier hitting the barrier with the right rear. He would badly damage his car leaving a lot of debris on the track. Both Williams drivers would pit. Fifteen minutes and the red flag was still out. With the restart Valtteri would come back out quickly as out on the track more drivers would have to take to the escape roads as they pushed their limits. With the end of the session Valtteri and Felipe would finish in third and eighth, a positive start to the weekend for Williams.

Valtteri Bottas:
Valtteri would follow Felipe out but he would run on the medium tyre for this first run. After his short run on the medium tyre Valtteri would come back out running on the soft tyre. Valtteri's firs lap would be a 1m:52.762. A 1m:51.280 on his next lap would see Valtteri improve and the following would see a 1m:51.158. Like those in front of him Valtteri would find time with a 1m:50.392 to remain third. Valtteri's next quick lap was a 1m:48.923 to now be second. Valtteri would drop to third behind Rosberg. Valtteri had been able to find a few tenths setting a 1m:48.799 remaining third.

Valtteri would all of a sudden with thirteen laps on his soft tyre he would set a 1m:47.707 to be quickest. Valtteri had set a top speed of 351kph. With just over fifty minutes remaining Valtteri would pit having completed fifteen laps. Valtteri would tell his engineer "There is some very small smoke in the cockpit." seeing his mechanics check his car. Valtteri would return to the track again on a new set of soft tyres. Valtteri had set an improved 1m:47.096 to be 0.284 behind Rosberg. Valtteri would return still on used soft tyres. He would complete a short run pitting briefly. Valtteri would even have an off track moment finishing the session in third.

Felipe Massa:
Felipe would be first out for Williams running on the soft tyre for his installation lap. Felipe would also come out running on a new set of soft tyres. Felipe's first timed lap was a 1m:53.901 to be fourth behind Valtteri. A 1m:52.530 was a improvement as the track got quicker. Felipe would remain fourth. He would drop to fifth behind Verstappen. This would be sixth as Button moved ahead. Felipe would continue to drop down the order now seventh behind Sainz. Felipe would be on a long run on the soft tyre currently eleventh then thirteenth. Felipe had set a 1m:51.451. Felipe would also find time setting a1m:50.208 to be ninth then tenth. Felipe would also pit having also completed a longer run.

Felipe would also come back out on a new set of tyres currently eleventh. His first timed lap was a 1m:49.510 to improve up to sixth. He would drop to seventh behind Button. Having pitted Felipe was out of his car as his mechanics made changes. Five minutes remaining and Felipe was still in his pit. The Williams team would report that they did not want to send Felipe back out using another set of tyres after he had worn out the set of soft tyres he originally went out on. It was later confirmed that Felipe had picked up some tyre damage as a result of debris. Felipe would drop to eighth with the end of the session.

Pos  Driver         	Team		        Time     Laps
1  Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes		1m46.435s 23
2  Nico Rosberg		Mercedes		1m46.812s 32
3  Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	1m47.096s 34
4  Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Honda		1m47.989s 21
5  Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari			1m48.627s 26
6  Sergio Perez		Force India-Mercedes	1m48.922s 17
7  Jenson Button	McLaren-Honda		1m49.019s 21
8  Felipe Massa		Williams-Mercedes	1m49.125s 22
9  Carlos Sainz		Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1m49.267s 16
10 Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	1m49.301s 27
11 Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari		1m49.611s 20
12 Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari			1m49.635s 16
13 Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull-Renault	1m49.778s 17
14 Esteban Gutierrez	Haas-Ferrari		1m50.167s 25
15 Marcus Ericsson	Sauber-Ferrari		1m50.473s 18
16 Max Verstappen	Red Bull-Renault	1m50.485s 7
17 Daniil Kvyat		Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1m50.551s 19
18 Jolyon Palmer	Renault			1m50.910s 25
19 Kevin Magnussen	Renault			1m50.939s 27
20 Pascal Wehrlein	Manor-Mercedes		1m51.219s 24
21 Felipe Nasr		Sauber-Ferrari		1m51.771s 11
22 Rio Haryanto		Manor-Mercedes		1m51.925s 28