Russian GP: Massa in top ten for Williams Martini in FP2

Team Summary:
The opening Friday practice session would see the Williams Martini cars finish in an encouraging eighth and ninth with Lance Stroll just behind team-mate Felipe Massa. With the start of the second session Vettel would set the first competitive quickest time with a 1m:36.524, with Raikkonen second. Raikkonen would improve to be fastest with a 1m:35.980 with Bottas now second. Hamilton would go quickest with a 1m:35.752 from Raikkonen and Bottas. Ricciardo was now third with a 1m:36.224. After their first runs the Williams pair were now sixth and thirteenth with just over an hour remaining.

The first driver on the ultra soft tyre was Raikkonen and he would set a 1m:34.721 to be quickest. Vettel was now out on the same tyre. Raikkonen would improve with a 1m:34.383. Vettel would go second with a 1m:34.480, but his next lap would see him improve with a 1m:34.120 to go quickest. Bottas was third with a 1m:35.313 to be 1.1 seconds behind Vettel. A 1m:34.998 would see Bottas improve but would remain third. Hamilton would go third with a 1m:34.829 but Bottas would move back into third again with a 1m:34.790. With just under forty five minutes remaining the top ten was Vettel, Raikkonen, Bottas, Hamilton, Ricciardo, Verstappen, Felipe, Hulkenberg, Perez and Ocon.

With twenty five minutes remaining most drivers were on longer runs with the majority on the ultra soft tyre. of the top ten only Raikkonen was on the super soft tyre. As the session drew to a close the Williams drivers were seventh and nineteenth with the drivers on different programmes with Lances focus been learning the track. More drivers had switched to the super soft tyre as the session came to an end. Both Williams drivers were on the super soft tyre as the session ended. Felipe was again in the stop ten but Lance had yet to get the opportunity to run on the ultra soft tyre so he should be closer to the front on Saturday.

Felipe Massa:
Felipe would be first out for Williams running on a new super soft tyre. His first timed lap would see a 1m:37.697 to be fourth, dropping to fifth. As others went quicker Felipe would drop to seventh behind Hulkenberg. But Felipe would find time with a 1m:37.090 to move up to fifth. He would drop to sixth behind Ricciardo. But Felipe would set a 1m:36.837 to move back up fifth. Felipe would pit after seven laps. He would drop to sixth behind Vettel. Felipe would return for his first run on the ultra soft tyre. Felipe would set a 1m:36.528 remaining sixth. This was now much of an improvement on the soft tyre. He was able to improve with a 1m:36.261 but remained sixth. After five laps Felipe would pit. He would drop to seventh behind Verstappen. Felipe would continue his run on the ultra soft tyre having completed nine laps on his current run. With ten minutes remaining Felipe had completed twenty four laps on the ultra soft tyre. Felipe would pit taking on the super soft tyre and would complete the session on this tyre.

Lance Stroll:
Lance would follow his team-mate out also on the super soft tyre. Lance would set a slow 1m:49.986 on his first lap. A 1m:40.065 from Lance would see him down in fourteenth. Lance was now finding any real improvements in his times setting a 1m:38.498 to be now fifteenth. A 1m:38.098 would see Lance thirteenth behind Kvyat. Lance would pit after nine laps. While in his pit Lance would drop to sixteenth and would come back out on a new set of super soft tyres. Lance would continue to lap currently in eighteenth. Lance would pit briefly but would come back ut continuing on his long run on the super soft tyre. After a run of fourteen laps Lance would pit. He had dropped to nineteenth while he was in his pit. With twenty minutes remaining Lance was back out on a set of used super soft tyres. The team was using this opportunity to learn the track and complete some setup work on the super soft tyres. He would pit after a single lap but would return. He would complete the session having completed eigteen laps on the super soft tyre. It was expected that he would get the opportunity to run on the ultra soft tyre in the Saturday practice.