French GP: Williams Martini well down the times in FP1


By Andrew Hooper
June 22 2018

The opening Friday practice session for the 2018 French GP would see the Williams Martini team struggle with their drivers well down the times. Lance Stroll would finish in 17th while team-mate Sergey Sirotkin was 20th and slowest. Both drivers would only use the ultrasoft tyre during the session for their timed runs. Having said that their times were well down they were only a few tenths off the times set by drivers just outside the top ten so the possibility of improvement in FP2 was there.

 
 Williams Martini French GP Friday 1st Practice
 
Stroll
 

Team Summary:
With the Williams team running their non Martini branding livery their drivers would complete their installation laps. The early times would see Verstappen quickest with a 1m:35.261 followed by Bottas and Hamilton. Ricciardo using the soft tyre would set a new quickest time with a 1m:34.956. After their first laps the Williams pair were sixth and eighth but would drop down the order. Their second runs would see them ninth and tenth. Further runs and the Williams pair would be seventh and tenth. Quickest at the front was now Ricciardo with a 1m:32.979 followed by Bottas and Raikkonen. After their second runs were completed the Williams drivers were in 13th and 14th.

Forty minutes into the session and the track was quite empty as drivers returned to the pits to return their set of Pirelli tyres. With the track again busy the Williams drivers were now 15th and 16th. This would become 17th and 18th with just over thirty minutes remaining. With drivers taking to the ultrasoft tyre the order would be Hamilton with a 1m:32.273 followed by Bottas, Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Grosjean, Verstappen, Sainz, Ocon, and Perez tenth. After their second runs the Williams drivers were now 17th and 20th. Vettel would move up to be fifth behind Raikkonen. With ten minutes remaining the Williams drivers weer still in their garages. But they would come back out running on used ultrasoft tyres with five minutes remaining. The session would be red flagged when Ericsson was to crash at Turn 12 with flames coming from his car. The flames would be put out and Ericsson was able to get out without injury.

With the end of the session it would remain Hamilton from Bottas and Ricciardo. In fourth was Raikkonen, Vettel, Grosjean, Verstappen, Gasly, Perez, and Magnussen tenth. For the Williams team their drivers would remain in 17th and 20th in what was a continuation of their recent form.

Lance Stroll:
Lance would follow his team-mate out for his installation lap except he would use the supersoft tyre. Lance was out running on the ultrasoft tyre. Lance would set a 1m:37.568 to be sixth dropping to tenth. lance would also improve with a 1m:37.013 to be ninth. Lance would drop to 13th from tenth with a lap time of 1m:36.506. A 1m:35.995 would see Lance improve to be tenth. This would become 14th to be right behind his team-mate. Lance would return for a second run again on the ultrasoft tyre. A 1m:35.693 would see him only 19th. But like many others Lance was able to improve with a 1m:34.881 to be thirteenth dropping to 17th. Lance would pit after an eight lap run. His final run would be stoped by a red flag.

Sergey Sirotkin:
Sergey would complete a single installation lap running on the soft tyre. Sergey would also return using the ultrasoft tyre for his first timed run. Sergey's first lap was a 1m:38.594 to be eighth and slowest of the times set. He would drop to 12th. Sergey would improve with a 1m:37.333 to be seventh dropping to eighth. This would become tenth one place behind his team-mate. Sergey would continue to improve with a 1m:36.039 to be sixth. He would drop to eighth. A 1m:35.825 would see him now seventh. He would drop to thirteenth as others went faster. Sergey would pit after an 11 lap run. With under forty minutes remaining Sergey was back out on a new set of ultrasoft tyres. Sergey would find time setting a 1m:35.105 to be 14th. This would become 18th as he pitted after a seven lap run. In the pits he would drop to 20th. Like his team-mate he would be forced to pit as a result of the red flag.

 
Stroll
 
Pos Driver Car Time Gap Laps
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m32.231s - 25
2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1m32.371s 0.140s 29
3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 1m32.527s 0.296s 25
4 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m33.003s 0.772s 23
5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m33.172s 0.941s 19
6 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 1m33.318s 1.087s 22
7 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Renault 1m33.331s 1.100s 15
8 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso-Honda 1m33.685s 1.454s 23
9 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1m33.719s 1.488s 26
10 Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari 1m34.108s 1.877s 23
11 Carlos Sainz Renault 1m34.258s 2.027s 25
12 Esteban Ocon Force India-Mercedes 1m34.484s 2.253s 14
13 Charles Leclerc Sauber-Ferrari 1m34.513s 2.282s 21
14 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari 1m34.592s 2.361s 21
15 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso-Honda 1m34.664s 2.433s 25
16 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Renault 1m34.862s 2.631s 20
17 Lance Stroll Williams-Mercedes 1m34.881s 2.650s 28
18 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1m34.993s 2.762s 24
19 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren-Renault 1m35.021s 2.790s 24
20 Sergey Sirotkin Williams-Mercedes 1m35.105s 2.874s 25
 
Williams Engineers
 

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French GP: Williams Martini well down the times in FP1
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