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Team Summary:
The opening Friday practice session for the Saudi Arabian GP would see a
large number of drivers coming out with all three tyre types been used.
Sainz would set the first lap time with a 1m:36.979 but quickly the times
would come down with Verstappen setting a 1m:33.614. He was followed by
Gasly, Stroll, Giovinazzi, Norris, and Ocon sixth. Ricciardo was now fourth
while as the times improved we would see the Williams cars 13th and 15th.
Verstappen had improved with a 1m:30.920 with Bottas second followed by
Ricciardo. The Williams cars were now 14th and 15th with fifteen minutes of
the session completed. As they continued to lap this new circuit the
Williams cars would improve to be ninth and 11th. But as others went quicker
they would drop to 12th and 14th. The order was rapidly changing with twenty
minutes completed.
Norris was now second followed by Hamilton and Bottas. Verstappen would
improve with a 1m:30.354 followed by Norris, Leclerc, Gasly, Hamilton,
Vettel, Bottas and Ricciardo eighth. But as one Williams car pitted in 13th
the other would now be 8th. The order was now Verstappen followed by
Hamilton, Bottas, Norris, Leclerc, Gasly, Vettel, George, Ricciardo and Ocon
tenth. The track was again busy with the soft tyre now being used across all
the teams including both Williams. Verstappen had improved his quickest time
with a 1m:30.014 to be 0.6s ahead of Hamilton. Tsunoda would move into sixth
while at the front Bottas would go quickest with a 1m:30.009 followed by
Verstappen and Sainz. The Williams cars were currently 11th and 17th with
seventeen minutes remaining.
Hamilton was now quickest with a 1m:29.786 followed by Bottas and
Verstappen. Gasly was fourth followed by Giovinazzi, Sainz, Leclerc, Vettel,
Ricciardo and Norris tenth. The Williams drivers were currently 17th and
19th as the session drew to a close. On the soft tyre Verstappen would
improve to be second behind Hamilton. Bottas was third followed by Gasly,
Giovinazzi, Sainz, Leclerc, Ricciardo, Alonso and Vettel now tenth. The
finishing positions for the Williams drivers would remain unchanged being
17th and 19th as they completed practice race starts on the grid. At this
stage of the weekend it is hard to assess the Williams teams performances.
But coming off the last few races that saw their cars struggle their
finishing positions in FP1 is not totally unsurprising.
George Russell:
George would join Nicholas out for his first run but was on the medium tyre.
George would set a 1nm:35.760 to be seventh dropping to eighth then 11th. As
others went faster he would drop to 14th. But a 1m:34.531 would see him now
12th. He would drop to 15th but with a 1m:32.497 he would be sixth dropping
to eighth. Despite setting a 1m:32.353 this would only see George 13th. With
ten laps completed George would set a 1m:31.698 to now be eighth. After an
eleven lap run George would pit. George would join quite a few drivers all
out using the soft tyre. He would drop to 11th but a 1m:31.343 would see him
eighth dropping to ninth. This would become 15th as he returned again on the
medium tyre. He would complete seven laps prior to taking the opportunity to
complete a practice start prior to pitting finishing the session in 17th.
Nicholas Latifi:
Nicholas would take to the first Friday session using the hard tyre on his
first run. Nicholas would set a 1m:37.696 to currently be 15th dropping to
17th. He would improve with a 1m:34.204 to be tenth dropping to 14th. But a
1m:32.623 would see Nicholas sixth dropping to eighth. A 1m:32.052 would see
Nicholas now 11th. He would pit after a nine lap run on the hard tyre
currently 12th. He would drop to 15th as he sat in his pit. His next run
would see him out on the soft tyre. He would improve with a 1m:31.821 to now
be 13th.This would become 14th with twenty two minutes remaining in the
session. He would pit after a seven lap run currently 16th. He would drop to
19th but after a short stop would return on used hard tyres. He would
complete nine laps on the hard tyre prior to completing a practice start on
the grid at the end of the session. |
