British GP: Williams Racing prepares for new Sprint Race


By Andrew Hooper
July 17 2021

In their final practice prior to the new Sprint Race the Williams drivers would finish in 11th and 15th with George Russell leading team-mate Nicholas Latifi. Both drivers would complete runs on teh soft and medium tyres as they worked through their preparations for Saturdays Sprint Race. It was a session where it was difficult to draw any real conclusions regarding the pace of the drivers as it was very much a session preparing for the Sprint later in the day.

 
 Williams Racing British GP Saturday Practice
 
Latifi
 

Team Summary:
With the start of the Saturday practice for the 2021 British GP the first cars out were the Haas ones followed by a flow of drivers using a mix of tyres. Schumacher would set a 1m:34.017 but Ocon on the soft tyre would move ahead with a 1m:32.220, followed by Schumacher and Mazepin. Both Aston Martins were running both on the medium tyre. Leclerc was now third using the hard tyre while Vettel was now second from Schumacher, Leclerc, Sainz and Mazepin. More times were being set with Norris on the soft now second followed by Raikkonen. Sainz would improve to be third as the first Williams time would be set seeing the car second.

Hamilton on the hard tyre was fourth followed by Norris, Sainz, Ricciardo, Leclerc, Raikkonen and Vettel now tenth. On the medium Perez was now second followed by Bottas. After their first runs the Williams pair were sixth and seventh. Perez would move to the top of the times with a 1m:31.382 followed by Ocon but Verstappen would move ahead of his team-mate with a 1m:30.428 also on the medium tyre. The Williams drivers were now seventh and eighth with thirty five minutes remaining. But we would see Gasly on the medium now third followed by Tsunoda, Nicholas, Ocon, Hamilton, Bottas, Mazepin, and George. After their next runs the Williams drivers were eighth and tenth. Verstappen was out on a long run on the medium tyre as Ricciardo moved into fourth.

Bottas and Hamilton were currently fifth and sixth followed by the AlphaTauri drivers. On the soft tyre Sainz was now second but was still 0.6s behind Verstappen. But Leclerc on the mediums would move ahead of his team-mate. With the changes the Williams drivers were now 11th and 14th with eighteen minutes remaining. Verstappen was quickest with a 1m:29.902 followed by Leclerc, Sainz, Perez, Ricciardo, Norris, Giovinazzi, Bottas, Hamilton and Gasly tenth. With ten minutes remaining the Williams drivers were currently 11th and 17th. Ocon was now in fourth ahead of Perez. The Williams drivers were now 11th and 14th.

The session would come to an end with Verstappen remaining quickest from Leclerc, Sainz, Ocon, Perez, Norris, Ricciardo, Hamilton, Bottas, and Gasly tenth. The Williams drivers would finish in 11th and 14th in a session where it was difficult to draw any real conclusions regarding the pace of the drivers as it was very much a session preparing for the Sprint later in the day. All the drivers would again be allowed to complete practice starts on the grid.

Nicholas Latifi:
Nicholas would be first out for Williams in the session using the soft tyre. He would pit after a single lap. But would quickly return remaining on the soft tyre again completing just a single lap. Nicholas would set a 1m:32.624 to be seventh. A 1m:32.567 from Nicholas would see him move ahead of his team-mate by just 0.007s. Nicholas had completes six laps on the soft tyre. A 1m:31.835 from Nicholas would see him fifth on ten lap old soft tyres. Nicholas would pit after an eleven lap run. In the pits he would drop to ninth and would return on the medium tyre. This would become tenth as he started his medium tyre run. As other times were set he would drop to 17th. A 1m:31.337 would see Nicholas 14th pitting after a thirteen lap run. He would finish the session in 15th as he returned to complete a practice start on the grid.

George Russell:
With ten minutes of the session completed George would start his first run using the soft tyre. George would say that his car was pulling under brakes. George would set a 1m:32.574 to be second but he would drop to third behind Mazepin. George would comment "Seems a little bit gustier today". George would pit after a four lap run dropping to sixth. This would become tenth as he returned with thirty minutes remaining but this time on the medium. He would set a 1m:31.658 to be sixth. This would become seventh and then eleventh as the session progressed. George would pit after a fourteen lap run. He would return to complete a practice start from the grid.

 
Russell
 
Cla Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap
1  Max Verstappen Red Bull 23 1'29.902  
2  Charles Leclerc Ferrari 30 1'30.277 0.375
3  Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari 29 1'30.507 0.605
4  Esteban Ocon Alpine 31 1'30.707 0.805
5  Sergio Perez Red Bull 27 1'30.800 0.898
6  Lando Norris McLaren 24 1'31.030 1.128
7  Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 23 1'31.034 1.132
8  Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 28 1'31.131 1.229
9  Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 27 1'31.180 1.278
10  Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 31 1'31.188 1.286
11  George Russell Williams 24 1'31.237 1.335
12  Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo 29 1'31.263 1.361
13  Fernando Alonso Alpine 27 1'31.289 1.387
14  Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo 26 1'31.328 1.426
15  Nicholas Latifi Williams 30 1'31.337 1.435
16  Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 32 1'31.404 1.502
17  Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 34 1'31.593 1.691
18  Lance Stroll Aston Martin 31 1'32.041 2.139
19  Nikita Mazepin Haas 31 1'32.474 2.572
20  Mick Schumacher Haas 28 1'34.017 4.115
 
Latifi
 

Bookmark or share this story with: