Austrian GP: Encouraging FP1 for Williams Racing


By Andrew Hooper
July 8 2022

Given the Sprint format there would be only a single Friday practice session and with its completition the Williams Racing Team would finish in 15th and 19th. Again we would see Alex Albon running with the upgraded FW44 in what would be its first fully dry session of running and to finish 15th just a few tenths outside the top ten was very encouraging. For Nicholas Latifi his 19th was pretty much what the older FW44 was expected to produce in terms of times. Hopefully both drivers at a minimum could make it into Q2 at a minimum in the Friday qualifying.

 
 Williams Racing Austrian GP Friday Practice
 
Latifi
 

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.

 
Albon
 
Cla Driver Chassis Time Gap
1  Max Verstappen Red Bull 1'06.302  
2  Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1'06.557 0.255
3  George Russell Mercedes 1'06.702 0.400
4  Sergio Perez Red Bull 1'06.839 0.537
5  Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1'06.909 0.607
6  Kevin Magnussen Haas 1'06.965 0.663
7  Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1'07.039 0.737
8  Fernando Alonso Alpine 1'07.100 0.798
9  Mick Schumacher Haas 1'07.246 0.944
10  Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1'07.296 0.994
11  Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1'07.431 1.129
12  Esteban Ocon Alpine 1'07.462 1.160
13  Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 1'07.476 1.174
14  Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 1'07.522 1.220
15  Alex Albon Williams 1'07.582 1.280
16  Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 1'07.592 1.290
17  Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 1'07.743 1.441
18  Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 1'07.889 1.587
19  Nicholas Latifi Williams 1'08.149 1.847
20  Lando Norris McLaren 1'09.915 3.613
 
Latifi
 

Bookmark or share this story with: