Belgian GP: Impressive Qualifying for Williams Racing


By Andrew Hooper
August 27 2022

Despite the fact that one car would finish 17th qualifying for the 2022 Belgian GP would still end up been an impressive one for Williams Racing with one car finishing 9th having made it into the final period of qualifying. The car that was down in 17th was that of Nicholas Latifi and even though he was well down the order he was the smallest of margins in making into Q2. The car in Q3 was that of Alex Albon having made it into this period for the first time for Alex. But even more fascinating is the fact that with other drivers penalties due to Power Unit breaches the pair would on initial examination be starting Sundays race from 6th and 11th seeing the Williams team with a fantastic opportunity to secure a good result.

 
 Williams Racing Belgian GP Qualifying
 
Latifi
 

Team Summary:
Qualifying for the 2022 Belgian Grand Prix would see a large number of penalties been applied as a result of Power Unit changes been made by several drivers, including the likes of Verstappen, Bottas, Norris amongst them. The start of the session would be delayed as a result of track repairs but it would get underway and it would a Williams out first in Q1. Schumacher would follow them out but on the soft tyre. Both Mercedes cars were out on the soft tyre joined by further drivers including both Ferrari's, both Red Bull's and Alfa Romeos. Schumacher would set a 1m:47.929 to set the first time with every single driver running.

Hamilton would go quickest only to see Russell quickest with a 1m:46.269 but he was passed by Perez and Leclerc. Then it would be Sainz quickest but Verstappen would move ahead with a 1m:44.581. The Williams pair were currently 11th and 17th with the top ten being Verstappen, Sainz, Perez, Leclerc, Ocon, Alonso, Gasly, Ricciardo, Norris and Russell tenth. Both Williams cars had pitted after their first runs. The rest of the field except the Mercedes cars had pitted with Russell and Hamilton both trying for another soft tyre run.

With three minutes remaining in Q1 drivers would start to return with only the top four remaining in their pits. The Williams had been the first car out and after their last flying laps they would finish in sixth and 17th. Very much a repeat of Alex being faster than Nicholas as the gap between the pair had grown to 0.7s. If Nicholas had kept the 0.4s gap would have been close to a top ten but he was still very close to a Q2 start.
 
Albon
 
So with just one Williams making it into Q2 the second period would get underway and Verstappen would go quickest with a 1m:44.723 followed by Perez, Sainz, Ocon, Norris, Alonso, Russell, Gasly, Hamilton and the remaining Williams tenth. This would become 11th as Leclerc went sixth. All fifteen drivers would pit with Leclerc being the last. After a short break they would return for their second runs with the last car to come out being a Williams. The only drivers not to come back out were the Red Bull cars. With the final laps been completed Leclerc would go quickest with a 1m:44.551 followed by Verstappen., Perez, Sainz, Hamilton, Russell, Ocon, Alonso, Norris and Alex tenth for the first time in a Williams Racing car.

The final period of qualifying would see the Williams go quickest but Perez then Verstappen would go quicker with Verstappen setting a time of 1m:43.665. Sainz was second followed by Perez, Ocon, Norris, Russell, Alex, and Hamilton with Leclerc and Alonso yet to set a time. Verstappen would not return as he was one of those drivers to be receiving penalties for Power Unit changes. Norris would also not return for the same reason. With their final runs Sainz would remain second behind Verstappen with Perez third followed by Leclerc, Ocon, Alonso, Hamilton, Russell, Alex and Norris tenth. But there would be numerous grid penalties to be applied before the final grid will be decided.
 
Latifi
 

Alex Albon:
Alex would be amongst the last drivers coming out using the soft tyre. he would finish his flying lap and set a 1m:46.380 to be 11th. He would pit after a three lap run. He would return for a second soft tyre run and would set a 1m:45.672 to be sixth. Getting into the second period and Alex would on his first flying lap would set a 1m:46.806 to be tenth. He would drop to 11th. As he started his flying lap he was currently 13th but would set a fastest Sector 1 time in Q2 so far and Alex would go on to set a 1m:45.675 to be tenth and into Q3, an amazing effort. Alex would return for the final period and at worst with all the penalties he would be starting from sixth come Sundays race. Alex would set a 1m:46.369 to set the quickest time even if briefly. He would drop to eighth and would pit after his first run. Alex would return for a second soft tyre run and with a 1m:45.837 would finish in ninth but grid penalties from other drivers would see him start on the third row, a fantastic result.

Nicholas Latifi:
Nicholas would be first out in the opening period running on the medium tyre. Unsurprisingly Nicholas would pit to switch to the soft tyre most likely assessing a change that has been made to the car. He would return now on the soft tyre and his first flying lap Nicholas had set a 1m:46.791 to be 13th dropping to 17th and returning to his pit after a three lap run. Nicholas would return again on the soft tyre and would set a 1m:46.401 to be 13th but he would drop to 17th. But he was so close to making it into Q2.
 

Albon
 

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Belgian GP: Impressive Qualifying for Williams Racing
Discussion started by Williams F1 , 27/08/2022 17:45
Williams F1
27/08/2022 17:45
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peterdebel
27/08/2022 20:56
Nice!!

P6 (due to penalties to other drivers!)

A pleasent surprise. Hopefully we can keep momentum during the race and Miss. Fortuna will protect us.

So:

1. Is the new aerodynamic update the only reason behind good performance ?

2 Nice to hear a summary by Dave Robson, Head of Performance, The Chef himself. Wish we hear from him after EVERY race in 2023.

He does not get fancy about starting i 3'ed row.
"it does mean that we will need to play a fairly defensive strategy tomorrow.” he says.

....

Lets no get carried away..

Bring both cars home must be a priority.

Hopefully at least we end the day on a high. It would mean so much for Dorilton and all of the team and their daily strive to be taken more seriously by the other teams and making progress, at the factory in Oxfordshire.

I would looked forward to the day when our Chef ingeneur, before a race, will say:

"Lets attack the cars in front of us. We know we have a very strong engine and aero-package, lets benefit and make the competitors know, we're able to challenge them on a very high level."

Nice, though, this qualifying was a success for one of our cars.



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 2022:08:27:23:20:17 by peterdebel.

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