German GP: Williams Martini continues to struggle in FP2

Team Summary:
With their opening Friday practice focusing on runs on the soft tyre the Williams Martini team would commence their second Friday session for the 2016 German GP. Commentators continued to comment on the on-track performances of the FW38 and how difficult it looked to drive and that it was not working well at this circuit. After the first series of runs it would be Hulkenberg fastest with a 1m:18.363 running on the soft tyre. Vettel was second followed by Raikkonen, Button, Alonso, Sainz, Grosjean, and Ericsson eighth. Verstappen would go quickest with a 1m:17.978 followed by Hulkenberg. But Ricciardo would move ahead of his team-mate with a 1m:17.716. Rosberg was now third with Hulkenberg fourth followed by the two Ferrari's.

Everyone was on the soft tyre with fifteen minutes completed. Rosberg would go quickest with a 1m:17.415 but Hamilton would set a 1m:17.067 to go quickest from his team-mate. Quite a few drivers were been cautioned about how they were going wide at Turn one. The track was empty with twenty minutes of the session completed. Hulkenberg was fifth followed by Vettel, Raikkonen, Button, Kvyat, and Valtteri tenth. Haryanto would be first out on the supersoft tyre and would set a 1m:18.591 to be eighth. More drivers started to come out on the supersoft tyre with Hulkenberg setting a 1m:16.781 to go quickest from Hamilton. Perez would go third with a 1m:17.348.

Raikkonen would set a 1m:16.512 to go quickest, from Hulkenberg and Hamilton. Button was now fourth as Rosberg came out for his supersoft run. Ricciardo would set a 1m:16.490 to be quickest but Rosberg would set a 1m:15.614 to move ahead. Hamilton was on a quick lap but could not get close to his team-mate finishing with a 1m:16.008 to be 0.394 behind Rosberg. Verstappen was third followed by Ricciardo. With fifty minutes remaining Valtteri and Felipe were twelfth and fourteenth. The top ten was Rosberg, Hamilton, Verstappen, Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Hulkenberg, Button, Perez, Alonso and Sainz. But Vettel would move up to third with a 1m:16.208 on his supersoft tyre run.

Both Williams drivers were on long runs on the supersoft tyre with thirty minutes remaining. Both Williams drivers would switch to the soft tyre for their next run to get a comparison. Valtteri had complete eighteen laps on this tyre and Felipe fifteen. Other drivers would stop to make the same change going onto the soft tyre. With ten minutes remaining both Williams cars continued on the long soft tyre runs. Both Williams drivers ere well off the pace on the used soft tyre with the quickest times in the 1m:20s. Nearing the end of the session both Williams drivers were in the high 1m:22s. The session would end with Valtteri and Felipe in thirteenth and fifteenth with their pace well off the leaders on both their supersoft and soft tyre runs. It was looking like the weekend was going to be a struggle unless the team could come up with a solution overnight. Rob Smedley from Williams didn't seem to be to stressed when asked by the media as to how their day went commenting that it was a typical Friday for Williams with the team assessing their front wing options.

Valtteri Bottas:
Valtteri would follow Felipe out also on soft tyres. Valtteri would set a slow 1m:32.375 to be twenty first. His next lap was a 1m:30.477 with Valtteri complaining of traffic at Turn one. Valtteri would set a 1m:18.866 to be eighth dropping to tenth as he pitted. Valtteri would also come out for his supersoft tyre run. A 1m:17.425 from Valtteri to be seventh. Valtteri would pit having completed five laps on the supersoft tyre. Valtteri would return to the track with forty five minutes remaining. He was out on used supersoft tyres currently thirteenth. Like many others Valtteri would be shown as having gone wide at Turn one. Valtteri would also pit having completed twelve laps on the supersoft tyre returning on a used set of soft tyres. Valtteri was setting times in the 1m:21s. Valtteri would have completed nineteen laps on his soft tyre run. Valtteri would say: "Felt like a pretty normal Friday with the car suiting the Hockenheim track better."


Felipe Massa:
Felipe would be first out for Williams running on a new set of soft tyres. Felipe would set a 1m:19.258 to be eighth. Felipe would drop to twelfth then thirteenth as he pitted having completed just six laps. With Valtteri going quicker Felipe would drop to fourteenth. Felipe was currently in fifteenth and still in his pit yet to come out for his supersoft tyre run. With fifty minutes remaining Felipe would come out for his run on the supersoft tyre. Felipe would finish his first flying lap with a 1m:17.686 to be eleventh. Felipe would drop to fifteenth with the session half completed. Felipe would follow Valtteri out also on his used supersoft tyres. Felipe would come in to switch to the soft tyre. Felipe would be setting times around 1m:22s. Felipe would end his session having completed twenty laps on the soft tyre.

Pos  Driver         	Team		        Time     Laps
1   Nico Rosberg 	Mercedes 		1m15.614s  43 
2   Lewis Hamilton 	Mercedes 		1m16.008s  36 
3   Sebastian Vettel 	Ferrari 		1m16.208s  39 
4   Max Verstappen 	Red Bull-Renault 	1m16.456s  40 
5   Daniel Ricciardo 	Red Bull-Renault 	1m16.490s  38 
6   Kimi Raikkonen 	Ferrari 		1m16.512s  45 
7   Nico Hulkenberg 	Force India-Mercedes 	1m16.781s  43 
8   Jenson Button 	McLaren-Honda 		1m17.087s  16 
9   Sergio Perez 	Force India-Mercedes 	1m17.148s  44 
10  Fernando Alonso 	McLaren-Honda 		1m17.225s  21 
11  Carlos Sainz 	Toro Rosso-Ferrari 	1m17.342s  32 
12  Daniil Kvyat 	Toro Rosso-Ferrari 	1m17.367s  38 
13  Valtteri Bottas 	Williams-Mercedes 	1m17.425s  44 
14  Romain Grosjean 	Haas-Ferrari 		1m17.602s  13 
15  Felipe Massa 	Williams-Mercedes 	1m17.686s  40 
16  Esteban Gutierrez 	Haas-Ferrari 		1m18.005s  42 
17  Kevin Magnussen 	Renault 		1m18.056s  46 
18  Marcus Ericsson 	Sauber-Ferrari 		1m18.130s  28 
19  Pascal Wehrlein 	Manor-Mercedes 		1m18.193s  42 
20  Jolyon Palmer 	Renault 		1m18.313s  47 
21  Rio Haryanto 	Manor-Mercedes 		1m18.591s  47 
22  Felipe Nasr 	Sauber-Ferrari 		1m19.295s  41