British GP: Encouraging FP2 for Williams Racing


By Andrew Hooper
July 1 2022

Under clear skies the second Friday practice session for the 2022 British GP would see the Williams Racing Team achieve the results of Alex Albon in 14th running the upgraded FW44 but for Nicholas Latifi still in the older car he would only manage 20th. Despite the result for Nicholas the first run of the upgraded FW44 was encouraging given that it was the first session that the car had run in. The team still needs to assess the performance of the car in the session and work towards even better performance come Saturday practice and qualifying.

 
 Williams Racing British GP Friday 2nd Practice
 
Latifi
 

Team Summary:
Having failed to set a time in the opening Friday practice session due to a wet track the second one would be vital for Williams Racing as they made every effort to make up for the lost time especially for the assessment of the upgraded FW44. With the start of the second Friday session there would be a rush of drivers coming out on a mix of soft, medium and hard tyre types. Both Alpines were on the soft joined by both Williams. The times would come very quickly with the whole field running. Sainz on the medium would set the quickest time but quickly it would change with Ocon going to the top wit a 1m:33.081. But he would be passed by Alonso and then Verstappen with a 1m:31.438. But we would see Leclerc now quickest with a 1m:30.786 followed by Sainz and Alonso.

The Williams drivers were now eighth and 18th after further laps on the soft tyre. This would become ninth and 20th with the gap between the pair 1.4s. But there would be a step forward for one car now in sixth dropping to seventh. The track would empty seeing just Bottas running with the order now Leclerc, Sainz, Verstappen, Perez, Hamilton, Alonso, Alex, Ocon, Norris, and Tsunoda tenth. The Williams pair were currently seventh and sixteenth but they would drop to 12th and 19th as more times were set. Norris was now quickest with a 1m:29.118 using the soft tyre with Leclerc second followed by Sainz and Russell both using the soft tyre.

Sainz was now quickest with a 1m:29.014 followed by Norris and Leclerc. Alonso was now fourth while the Williams pair were currently 15th and 17th. But after their next runs their positions would change to be 13th and 20th. Sainz remained quickest with Hamilton now second followed by Norris and Verstappen. Leclerc was now fifth followed by Alonso, Perez, Russell, Ricciardo, and Stroll tenth. With the last five minutes of the session drivers were now on longer runs. The session would end with Sainz remaining quickest from Hamilton, Norris, Verstappen, Leclerc, Alonso, Perez, Russell, Ricciardo and Stroll tenth as we had drivers complete practice starts from the grid. For Williams tehir drivers would finish the session in 14th and 20th while Alex was just 0.321 off the 10th placed Aston Martin. The upgrades did seem to be working but it was early days. Nicholas's 20th was 1.06s behind Alex with the gap between the pair seeming to be bigger than what was seen in previous Friday sessions. It would seem that it was a positive result for the updated FW44.

Alex Albon:
Alex would be first out for Williams in the session using the soft tyre and he would set a 1m:33.256 to be fifth dropping to eighth. This would become 10th as other times came in. This would then become 13th but with a 1m:31.820 he would move up to be sixth dropping to eighth. This would become 11th but with a 1m:30.973 would see him return up the order to be sixth. He would drop to seventh with fifteen minutes completed. Alex was running with a large amount of flow viz on his car as the team worked on assessing the new aerodynamic package. Alex would also pit after an eight lap run. He would return completing just a single lap on used soft tyres. He was now 15th with thirty minutes remaining. Alex would return for a further soft tyre run with a lot of flow viz on his car around the front radiator intakes. He would have a moment and would abort his lap but his next lap would be a 1m:30.263 seeing him now 11th. He would pit after a five lap run now 13th. Alex would complain to his engineer about a lack of traction through various corners. Alex would not return with the end of the session having dropped to 14th.

Nicholas Latifi:
Nicholas would follow his team-mate out also on the soft tyre and he would set a 1m:35.383 to be 15th. He would then drop to 17th and even with a 1m:33.301 he would only improve to be 18th. He would then drop to 19th with ten minutes of the session completed. This would become 20th but with a 1m:31.938 he would move back up the order into 15th. Nicholas would pit after a eight lap run. With thirty five minutes remaining Nicholas would return again on the soft tyre currently 18th. He would improve with a 1m:31.326 to be 17th. After a six lap run he would pit now 20th. Nicholas would return for his final run in the session using the medium tyre for a longer run. After a ten lap run he would pit returning on the soft tyres to complete a practice start.

 
Albon
 
Cla Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap
1  Carlos Sainz Ferrari 28 1'28.942  
2  Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 21 1'29.105 0.163
3  Lando Norris McLaren 29 1'29.118 0.176
4  Max Verstappen Red Bull 18 1'29.149 0.207
5  Charles Leclerc Ferrari 25 1'29.404 0.462
6  Fernando Alonso Alpine 19 1'29.695 0.753
7  Sergio Perez Red Bull 17 1'29.753 0.811
8  George Russell Mercedes 29 1'29.799 0.857
9  Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 26 1'29.902 0.960
10  Lance Stroll Aston Martin 17 1'29.942 1.000
11  Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 29 1'30.000 1.058
12  Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 20 1'30.057 1.115
13  Esteban Ocon Alpine 12 1'30.238 1.296
14  Alex Albon Williams 14 1'30.263 1.321
15  Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 27 1'30.271 1.329
16  Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 29 1'30.338 1.396
17  Kevin Magnussen Haas 27 1'30.480 1.538
18  Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 28 1'30.510 1.568
19  Mick Schumacher Haas 29 1'30.609 1.667
20  Nicholas Latifi Williams 27 1'31.326 2.384
 
Albon
 

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British GP: Encouraging FP2 for Williams Racing
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