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Team Summary:
Having failed to set a time in the opening Friday practice session due to a
wet track the second one would be vital for Williams Racing as they made
every effort to make up for the lost time especially for the assessment of
the upgraded FW44. With the start of the second Friday session there would
be a rush of drivers coming out on a mix of soft, medium and hard tyre
types. Both Alpines were on the soft joined by both Williams. The times
would come very quickly with the whole field running. Sainz on the medium
would set the quickest time but quickly it would change with Ocon going to
the top wit a 1m:33.081. But he would be passed by Alonso and then
Verstappen with a 1m:31.438. But we would see Leclerc now quickest with a
1m:30.786 followed by Sainz and Alonso.
The Williams drivers were now eighth and 18th after further laps on the soft
tyre. This would become ninth and 20th with the gap between the pair 1.4s.
But there would be a step forward for one car now in sixth dropping to
seventh. The track would empty seeing just Bottas running with the order now
Leclerc, Sainz, Verstappen, Perez, Hamilton, Alonso, Alex, Ocon, Norris, and
Tsunoda tenth. The Williams pair were currently seventh and sixteenth but
they would drop to 12th and 19th as more times were set. Norris was now
quickest with a 1m:29.118 using the soft tyre with Leclerc second followed
by Sainz and Russell both using the soft tyre.
Sainz was now quickest with a 1m:29.014 followed by Norris and Leclerc.
Alonso was now fourth while the Williams pair were currently 15th and 17th.
But after their next runs their positions would change to be 13th and 20th.
Sainz remained quickest with Hamilton now second followed by Norris and
Verstappen. Leclerc was now fifth followed by Alonso, Perez, Russell,
Ricciardo, and Stroll tenth. With the last five minutes of the session
drivers were now on longer runs. The session would end with Sainz remaining
quickest from Hamilton, Norris, Verstappen, Leclerc, Alonso, Perez, Russell,
Ricciardo and Stroll tenth as we had drivers complete practice starts from
the grid. For Williams tehir drivers would finish the session in 14th and
20th while Alex was just 0.321 off the 10th placed Aston Martin. The
upgrades did seem to be working but it was early days. Nicholas's 20th was
1.06s behind Alex with the gap between the pair seeming to be bigger than
what was seen in previous Friday sessions. It would seem that it was a
positive result for the updated FW44.
Alex Albon:
Alex would be first out for Williams in the session using the soft tyre and
he would set a 1m:33.256 to be fifth dropping to eighth. This would become
10th as other times came in. This would then become 13th but with a
1m:31.820 he would move up to be sixth dropping to eighth. This would become
11th but with a 1m:30.973 would see him return up the order to be sixth. He
would drop to seventh with fifteen minutes completed. Alex was running with
a large amount of flow viz on his car as the team worked on assessing the
new aerodynamic package. Alex would also pit after an eight lap run. He
would return completing just a single lap on used soft tyres. He was now
15th with thirty minutes remaining. Alex would return for a further soft
tyre run with a lot of flow viz on his car around the front radiator
intakes. He would have a moment and would abort his lap but his next lap
would be a 1m:30.263 seeing him now 11th. He would pit after a five lap run
now 13th. Alex would complain to his engineer about a lack of traction
through various corners. Alex would not return with the end of the session
having dropped to 14th.
Nicholas Latifi:
Nicholas would follow his team-mate out also on the soft tyre and he would
set a 1m:35.383 to be 15th. He would then drop to 17th and even with a
1m:33.301 he would only improve to be 18th. He would then drop to 19th with
ten minutes of the session completed. This would become 20th but with a
1m:31.938 he would move back up the order into 15th. Nicholas would pit
after a eight lap run. With thirty five minutes remaining Nicholas would
return again on the soft tyre currently 18th. He would improve with a
1m:31.326 to be 17th. After a six lap run he would pit now 20th. Nicholas
would return for his final run in the session using the medium tyre for a
longer run. After a ten lap run he would pit returning on the soft tyres to
complete a practice start. |
