Austrian GP: FP3 Signs of potential for Williams Racing

Team Summary:
With the start of the Saturday practice for the 2021 Austrian GP there would be a steady flow of drivers coming out all using the development Pirelli tyres seen on Friday. The first times would come in with Norris quickest with a 1m:06.454. Gasly would go quicker as we had both Williams cars running. Both Williams cars would be coming in an out of the pit lane as they continued using the development tyres. Tsunoda was now second followed by Norris and Leclerc. As drivers would complete their Pirelli prototype tyre testing they would start to run on the normal selection of tyres. Norris would set a 1m:05.700 followed Tsunoda both on the soft tyre. The Williams drivers also on the soft were currently sixth and seventh. Raikkonen on the medium was third followed by Vettel, Gasly and the Williams pair.

But this would all change as Leclerc went fastest with a 1m:05.627 on the soft tyre. The Williams drivers were now ninth and tenth as we had Verstappen now quickest with a 1m:04.941 from Leclerc and Norris. Hamilton and Bottas were 16th and 19th but yet to set a competitive soft tyre time. After their flying laps Hamilton was now second then Bottas third. With these times the Williams pair were now 11th and 13th. But Leclerc would take third from Bottas with twenty minutes remaining in the session. The Ferrari's of Sainz and Leclerc were now third and fourth with Vettel fifth followed by Stroll. Seventh was Bottas followed by George, Norris and Ricciardo tenth. Gasly would improve to be third but as Bottas went second ahead of Hamilton we would see the Williams pair 14th and 19th.

With the end of the session Verstappen was still quickest from Bottas, Hamilton, Gasly, Giovinazzi, Sainz, Alonso, Leclerc, Perez and Vettel tenth. Hamilton would have been higher up had it not been for a deleted time. Drivers would return to the track including both Williams drivers to complete practice starts on the grid. As for the Williams teams prospects for qualifying for George it was looking like Q2 was again well within reach but Nicholas really is going to have to ensure he gets his laps right as if not Q1 most likely will be the best he will achieve. But that is not to say that the potential to see both drivers in Q2 is not there.

Nicholas Latifi:
Nicholas would follow his team-mate also on the development Pirelli tyres. But Nicholas would pit after a single lap returning still on the test tyre but would also make several trips through the pit lane. He would finally pit and would not return until thirty five minutes were remaining this time on the soft tyre. He would set a 1m:06.105 to be fifth dropping to ninth. Nicholas would pit after a six lap run. In the pits he would drop down to 15th. Nicholas would return again on the soft tyre but would fail to improve on his first flying lap. He would drop to 19th and would eventually pit after a five lap run.

George Russell:
George would be amongst those out early running on the development Pirelli tyres. George would pit after a single lap but would return seeing him doing several trips through the pit lane. Finally he would pit and would return this time on the soft and would set a 1m:06.297 to be sixth dropping to seventh. This would become tenth. But with a 1m:06.150 he would move up the order to be seventh. As he pitted he had dropped to tenth after a seven lap run. This would become 13th as he returned again on the soft tyre and with a 1m:05.694 would be fifth. He would drop to eighth as others went quicker. As he continued a longer run he would drop to 11th. He would pit after a seven lap run currently 14th returning to complete a practice start at the ned of the session.