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Team Summary:
With the Austrian Grand Prix the Sprint format would see only a one hour
practice session. With the start of the session there was a rush of drivers
all using the medium tyre including both Williams cars. One Williams would
pit as Verstappen went quickest with a 1m:08.656 followed by Ocon and
Alonso. Quicker times would start to come in with Alonso quickest with a
1m:08.203 now followed by Alonso and Magnussen. But Verstappen was again
quickest with a 1m:07.720 with Alonso second. Perez was now fourth followed
by Ocon, Schumacher, Zhou, Bottas, Russell and Hamilton tenth. The only
Williams was in 17th as the second car returned.
Bottas was now fifth ahead of Ocon and Schumacher. The we would see Leclerc
now third pushing Magnussen to fourth. As the session progressed the
Williams cars were now 18th and 20th. Verstappen had improved with a
1m:07.496 followed by Leclerc, Alonso, Ocon, Magnussen, Perez, Sainz,
Hamilton, Russell and Bottas now tenth. The Williams pair were now 16th and
20th with twenty minutes completed. The track would empty as drivers
completed their first runs. Norris had stopped by the side of the track
seeing a Red Flag been displayed. The session would continue even with the
Red Flag. The two Williams cars were currently separated by 1.8s.
The session would restart with one of the Williams out running. Several
drivers were now using the soft tyre including Verstappen, Leclerc and
Sainz. Sainz would move to teh top of the times with a 1m:07.1449 but
Leclerc would move ahead with a 1m:06.650. But Verstappen would move ahead
with a 1m:06.302 with Leclerc second followed by Sainz. The first of the
Williams running on the soft tyre would appear as we also had both Alfa
Romeos on the same tyre. On the medium Magnussen would improve to be fourth.
Bottas was now fifth followed by Alonso, Tsunoda and Russell eighth but had
set his time on the soft tyre. But again we would see another Red Flag with
debris on the track on the racing line.
The Williams pair were now 18th and 19th and effectively slowest with
seventeen minutes remaining and the clock counting down even with the Red
Flag. The session would restart as more drivers now took to the soft tyre.
Even with the soft tyre Perez could only manage fourth. Hamilton would move
into third as we now had a Williams ninth dropping to 14th with the other
Williams now 18th. Russell was now third from Hamilton, Magnussen, Sainz,
Alonso, Perez, Schumacher, and Tsunoda tenth. Both Williams cars were out on
longer runs on the soft tyre. With the end of the session the order was
Verstappen from Leclerc, Russell, Perez, Hamilton, Magnussen, Sainz, Alonso,
Schumacher, and Tsunoda tenth. The Williams pair were now 15th and 19th with
the end of the session. With that being their only practice session prior to
qualifying Alex was just 0.28 outside the top ten and just hundredths
outside top 15 which was encouraging. But for Nicholas he was 0.56 outside
the top fifteen so his qualifying is going to be tougher in qualifying.
Alex Albon:
For Williams Alex would again be running the upgraded FW44. Alex would be
the first car out in the session using the medium tyre. Alex would pit after
a single lap without setting a time. After a short delay he would return
with flow viz on his car. His first lap was a 1m:10.580 to be 17th one place
ahead of his team-mate. His next lap was a 1m:09.953 to now be 16th dropping
to 17th. He would find time with a 1m:09.915 to be 19th but a 1m:09.394
would see him improve to be 16th. He would pit with the Red Flag and with
the restart he would return on used medium tyres. He would drop down to 18th
as he continued to put laps in with the upgraded car. He would pit with a
Red Flag having completed nine laps on the medium tyre. Alex was back out on
the soft tyre with the restart setting a 1m:07.666 to be ninth. This would
become 14th with an improved time of 1m:07.582 as he pitted after a nine lap
run. But it was later reported that Alex had lost time in the final sector
on one of his quicker runs there was more time to come from the car.
Nicholas Latifi:
Nicholas would continue with the old version of the FW44. He is expecting to
see the upgraded car for the French Grand Prix. Nicholas would also take to
the track using the medium tyre. He would set a 1m:12.318 to be 13th. He
would drop to 17th even with a 1m:11.256. Nicholas would pit after a six lap
run on the medium tyre now 18th. He would return on used medium tyres now
20th. Nicholas would pit with a Red Flag and after a delay he would return
on the soft tyre. Nicholas would set a 1m:09.436 but only moved to 19th. He
would pit with a Red Flag. on his return Nicholas was back out on anew set
of soft tyres. He would set a 1m:08.149 to be 18th. Nicholas would pit after
a eight lap run on the soft tyre returning to complete a practice start from
the grid. |
