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
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.
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