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Team Summary:
After a difficult practice leading up to qualifying the Williams Martini
team was facing the prospect having a very difficult qualifying. With the
start of the first eighteen minute period drivers would start to come out
all on the ultra soft tyre. Raikkonen would set a 1m:44.060 to go quickest.
Vettel was now second followed by Sainz and Kvyat. Everyone was out on the
track with quite a few drivers on their timed laps. Vandoorne would go
quickest with Raikkonen second and Alonso now third. At the front Ricciardo
would go quickest followed by Verstappen and now Vettel. Perez was fourth
followed by Ocon and Vandoorne.
Hamilton would move into second and Bottas now fourth. But Verstappen would
go quickest with a 1m:42.010 followed by Ricciardo and Hamilton. With two
minutes remaining the Williams drivers were in nineteenth and twentieth. At
the front Alonso would go third followed by Sainz and Vandoorne. Hamilton
was sixth followed by Palmer, Kvyat, Hulkenberg and Bottas tenth. Both
Williams cars were out of qualifying. Both cars would make contact with the
wall at different times not helping their efforts.
After two runs in the second period the final ten cars would be Verstappen,
Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Vettel, Hamilton, Vandoorne, Hulkenberg, Bottas,
Alonso and Sainz tenth. Verstappen had set a 1m:40.332 with Ricciardo a
1m:40.385. It was incredibly close at the front as the top ten prepared for
the final period. After their first runs it would be Vettel quickest with a
1m:39.669 followed by Verstappen and Ricciardo. Hamilton was fifth followed
by Bottas, Alonso, Vandoorne, Hulkenberg and Sainz. After their second runs
it would be Vettel who would retain his pole position with an improved
1m:39.491. Verstappen would remain second followed by Ricciardo, Raikkonen,
Hamilton, Bottas, Hulkenberg, Alonso, Vandoorne and Sainz tenth. For the
Williams team it is now time to regroup and see if they can achieve a result
in a race that has seen unexpected results. |
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Felipe Massa:
Felipe would wait awhile before coming out also on new ultra soft tyres.
Felipe would set a very slow 2m:03.020 having to abandon his first timed
lap. But Felipe would have to pit with a broken right rear wheel having told
the team that he had hit the wall. Felipe's car was able to return to the
track for one final run to see if he could get out of Q1. Felipe was able to
set a 1m:44.014 to be fifteenth but would drop to sixteenth. This would
become seventeenth and out of qualifying.
Lance
Stroll:
Lance would come out for the first period very early running on new ultra
soft tyres. Lance would seta 1m:47.414 on his first lap which most likely
see him drop down the order. Lance would pit after just two laps. He would
get a new set of tyres and would return. Lance would not improve and would
pit currently in seventeenth. With under four minutes remaining and Lance
would come back out on another set of new ultra soft tyres. Lance would set
a 1m:44.745 to be only eighteenth to join his team-mate out of qualifying. |
