Qatar GP: Mixed FP3 for Williams Racing


By Andrew Hooper
November 20 2021

The final Saturday practice for the 2021 Qatar GP would see the Williams Racing Team finsh the session in 14th and 18th positions. George Russell was again ahead of team-mate Nicholas Latifi after they both had completed runs using the soft tyre. The only other tyre the pair would use in the session was the medium where the timings would see the pair much closer together. Very much a mixed session but qualifying would be a bit of an unknown as to whether both drivers could make it into Q2.

 
 Williams Racing Qatar GP Saturday Practice
 
Latifi
 

Team Summary:
With the start of the Saturday practice session the only car to come out was that of Mazepin but he would stop at the pit exit and was told to stop by his engineer. The session would be Red Flagged given the position of his car. There was no real rush to come out as the session is on a time of the day not really representative of the later qualifying. With the restart Schumacher was first back out on the medium tyre. Next out would be Ocon also on the medium tyre with ten minutes of the session completed. Norris was next out on the soft tyre as Ocon set a 1m:24.864 with Norris now second. Both Mercedes cars were now running joined by the Alfa Romeos all on the soft tyre. A 1m:24.580 from Ocon as Perez and Sainz took to the track also on the soft tyre.

We would see Hamilton now fastest with a 1m:23.950 followed by Bottas and Ocon. Raikkonen and Giovinazzi were fourth and fifth. More drivers started to come out including Alonso and Ricciardo. With forty minutes remaining Sainz was now third from Ocon, and Perez. But Alonso would go quickest with a 1m:23.904 using the medium tyre. Hamilton was second followed by Bottas, but Bottas still on the soft tyre would go quickest with a 1m:23.387. Sainz was fifth followed by Perez, Leclerc, Raikkonen, Vettel and Ricciardo. But Tsunoda on the medium was now seventh. On another soft tyre Hamilton would set a 1m:23.152 to be fastest from Bottas and Alonso. Gasly was now fourth but this would change as Perez went into third but tam-mate Verstappen was now quickest with a 1m:23.121. Hamilton was second followed by Sainz, Bottas, Perez, Alonso, Gasly, Ocon, Tsunoda, and Leclerc tenth.

At the front we now had Bottas quickest with a 1m:22.573 followed by Hamilton and Verstappen. Leclerc was now fourth while the Williams pair were now 13th and 15th still on the medium tyre. The track would empty as drivers completed their first runs. The Williams drivers were now 13th and 14th separated by just 0.007s. Gasly was now up to third as with just over twenty minutes remaining the track emptied. But his lap time would be deleted seeing him now sixth. Drivers would start to return for soft tyre runs including both McLaren's, Bottas, Stroll, Bottas, Perez and Raikkonen. Both Williams cars were now running on the soft tyre. They were currently 14th and 15th as Ricciardo went ninth. Schumacher was now 17th and Norris now 12th. Perez would jump up to third behind Hamilton.

Sainz was now fifth ahead of Leclerc and Gasly. Hamilton would move up to being quickest with 1m:22.388 from Bottas and Perez. Verstappen was in his pit with work been done on his car currently fourth followed by Sainz, Gasly, Alonso, Leclerc, Tsunoda and Ricciardo tenth. Verstappen would improve to be third ahead of Perez. But Gasly would move into fourth ahead of Perez, Sainz, Alonso, Ocon, Leclerc, and Tsunoda now tenth. For Williams their drivers would finish in 14th and 18th with George ahead of Nicholas. A very mixed session based on their soft tyre runs but on the medium the split between the two drivers was much closer.

Nicholas Latifi:
Nicholas would be first out for Williams using the medium tyre. A 1m:25.788 from Nicholas would see him 17th. He would improve with a 1m:25.140 to be 14th, dropping to 17th. He would comment to his engineer about understanding the wind and must have gotten the wind right as he sets a 1m:24.499 to be 11th. He would drop 13th as he pitted after a seven lap run. With fifteen minutes remaining Nicholas would return for his soft tyre run. His first run would see no improvement remaining down in 16th but his last time had been deleted. He was now 17th and would pit after a three lap run with seven minutes remaining. He would return on another set of soft tyres. But without improving he would again put ending his session and he the pits he would drop to 18th.

George Russell:
George would follow his team-mate out also on the medium tyre. A time of 1m:25.883 would see George 18th. A 1m:24.861 would see him 14th. This would become 13th as he sets a 1m:24.641. He would dropt o 14th to be behind Vettel. He would improve with a 1m:24.292 to be 13th. George would also come out for his soft tyre run. George would set a 1m:24.320 to be 12th. He would drop to 14th with eight minutes remaining. A 1m:24.140 would see him remain 13th. He would drop to 14th but a 1m:23.923 would see him 13th again. George would pit after a six lap run finishing the session in 14th.

 
Russell
 
Cla Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap
1  Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 17 1'22.310  
2  Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 16 1'22.388 0.078
3  Max Verstappen Red Bull 10 1'22.651 0.341
4  Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 17 1'22.835 0.525
5  Sergio Perez Red Bull 14 1'22.846 0.536
6  Carlos Sainz Jr Ferrari 17 1'23.048 0.738
7  Fernando Alonso Alpine 13 1'23.186 0.876
8  Esteban Ocon Alpine 18 1'23.209 0.899
9  Charles Leclerc Ferrari 17 1'23.276 0.966
10  Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 20 1'23.567 1.257
11  Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 14 1'23.711 1.401
12  Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 17 1'23.884 1.574
13  Lando Norris McLaren 16 1'23.895 1.585
14  George Russell Williams 17 1'23.923 1.613
15  Lance Stroll Aston Martin 17 1'24.154 1.844
16  Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo 19 1'24.246 1.936
17  Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo 17 1'24.288 1.978
18  Nicholas Latifi Williams 15 1'24.499 2.189
19  Mick Schumacher Haas 20 1'24.680 2.370
20  Nikita Mazepin Haas 1    
 
Latifi
 

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Qatar GP: Mixed FP3 for Williams Racing
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