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Driver: Lance
Stroll / Felipe Massa
Chassis / Engine: FW40-02 / Mercedes-AMG F1 M08 EQ Power+
Location: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, 4.655km
Weather: Warm and Dry
Maximum air & track temps: 21ºC / 27ºC
The third day of the second and final pre-season test would see the Williams
Martini team again elect to run both drivers with Lance Stroll in the
morning and Felipe Massa in the afternoon. With the start of the morning
session Lance would quickly complete a series of installation laps prior to
starting his timed laps where he would finish with a 1m:25.944 while
Hamilton would set the early benchmark time of 1m:20.686. Lance had set a
1m:27.086 running on the soft tyre but his next lap would be a 1m:26.333
followed by a 1m:25.944. His next laps would not see an improvement but
after being dropped down the order by Ericsson would try to respond with a
1m:25.887. With just over an hour completed Lance had completed twenty laps.
After a short stop Lance would head back out for another run still on the
soft tyre. He would completed a series of laps prior to pitting and upon his
return he would come out running the medium tyre for his next stint. In what
was impressive series of laps Lance would set a 1:26.2 followed by 1:26.3,
1:26.6, 1:26.7, 1:26.7, 1:26.7, 1:26.7, 1:26.7, 1:26.6, 1:26.8, 1:26.7 and
1:26.7. Two and a half hours into the session Lance had completed an
impressive sixty two laps. Lance was able to improve setting a 1mL24.683.
At the front it was Vettel who was fastest with a 1m:19.341, running on the
soft tyres. Hamilton was second followed by Ricciardo and Magnussen. With
sixty seven laps completed Lance would pit. He would return still on the
medium tyre in what was looking like a longer run for the rookie. Into the
final hour and Lance had completed seventy seven laps. Lance would complete
eighty five laps prior to pitting again. Vettel had been able to set a
1m:19.314 running on the super soft tyre but he did appear to back off near
the end of his lap. Ocon was now second with a 1m:20.161 but set on the
ultra soft tyre. Button Hamilton would move ahead of Ocon with a 1m:19.352
running on the ultra soft tyre. Vettel had also gone out on this tyre and
was able to set a 1m:19.024 to remain quickest. This was the quickest time
so far in testing as the morning session came to an end.
After the lunch break it would be Felipe's turn out on the track. His first
run was on the soft tyre and he would set a 1m:25.341. After completing
fourteen laps Felipe would pit. Felipe would return and was able to set his
personal best with a 1m:25.080 in what looked like a high fuel run from
Williams. The afternoons running would be affected by several red flags as
other drivers had issues. With less than an hour remaining Felipe had
completed fifty one laps. Felipe was able to move ahead of team-mate
Stroll's time setting a 1m:24.443. But today was not able performance runs
from the Williams team but race simulations. With the end of the day Felipe
would complete eighty laps making a total of one hundred and sixty five from
both Williams drivers, a pleasing sign of reliability from the FW40.
Williams Martini Racing returns to track tomorrow with Lance Stroll at the
wheel of the FW40.
Rod Nelson, Chief Test & Support Engineer:
It was a pretty solid day concentrating on race distances. We achieved this
with Lance in good style this morning and despite a couple of red flags this
afternoon, we still completed a good distance with Felipe too. We also
looked at tyre degradation and stability through a race run. We’re looking
forward to tomorrow with Lance back in the car, where we’ll be aiming to do
some qualifying simulation work and some more race work in the afternoon.
The team is now getting back on target and we are looking forward to the
final day tomorrow.
Lance Stroll:
It was a good morning. I was doing long runs on medium tyres and getting
used to the car on them, which is good. We did a lot of laps. I am still
getting to know the car a bit better, so it was a positive morning. I will
be in the car all day tomorrow. I still have the ultrasoft to try, but I am
getting to grips with things so I am happy with that.
Felipe Massa:
The car did 165 laps in total today. Because of the red flags we couldn’t do
the full race simulation, with pit stops but we more than managed to cover
the distance we were targeting without issue. With the car doing two full
race distances today it shows the FW40 is reliable, and that’s positive. Now
I’m just ready to start the season! I’m not driving tomorrow but I hope the
team has another great day with Lance. I just hope that we can start the
season well in Australia and we can use everything we’ve learned here in the
test to prepare the car for the first race. |
