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Team Summary:
With the start of the opening Friday practice for the 2019 Mexican Grand
Prix there would be a mix of tyres been used as drivers started to come out.
Both Williams drivers were on soft tyres. With rain having fallen earlier
there were drivers coming out on intermediate tyres. Both Williams drivers
would complete their installation laps with it been very much the case of
back to back testing of different configurations. With ten minutes completed
the only driver yet to come out was Hamilton but he would eventually do so.
A Williams with Latifi would go quickest with a 1m:24.463 but Bottas would
move ahead with a 1m:21.887 running on the medium tyre.
Sainz would go quickest with a 1m:21.613 but Hamilton would move ahead with
a 1m:21.127. Vettel would also improve as the track conditions improved with
a 1m:20.148 only to see Bottas again quickest with a 1m:19.889 and then
Hamilton with a 1m:19.483. With the competition of the first runs the
Williams drivers were 17th and 18th. At the front there would be further
changes with Hamilton improving with a 1m:19.004 only to see Leclerc go
quicker with a 1m:18.849. Verstappen was now third followed by Vettel,
Bottas and Albon in sixth. The Williams drivers were now slowest of the
field. With the first forty minutes completed the drivers would pit to
return this set of tyres.
With their next runs the Williams drivers both on the soft tyre would
improve to be 14th and 17th. the session would be red flagged when Stroll
would crash his car sliding sideways into the barrier. He was able to
continue back to the pits but there was work that had to be done in regard
to the barrier. Prior to this Albon had gone quickest with a 1m:17.949
followed now by Bottas and Leclerc with the top two on the soft tyre and
Leclerc the medium. The session would restart with just under twenty minutes
remaining. Both Williams drivers would return running on the soft tyre. They
would improve their times but would dropt o be 19th and 20th. Hamilton had
returned to ten top of the times with a 1m:17.327 now followed by Leclerc,
Verstappen, Albon, Bottas, Sainz, Vettel, Gasly, Giovinazzi, and Hulkenberg
tenth. As the session wound down the Williams drivers would return for
another soft tyre run. With the end of the session they would not improve
remaining slowest but the quicker of the Williams drivers was 1.5 seconds
off the 10th placed car running on the same tyre. The top ten would be
Hamilton, Leclerc, Verstappen, Albon, Bottas, Vettel, Sainz, Gasly, Kvyat,
and Giovinazzi tenth.
Nicholas Latifi:
Nicholas would be running in the opening Friday practice session for the
next three races and in this session he would be given the role of aero
testing with the new front wing that the team was testing. Nicholas would be
first to come out for Williams with the start of the session running on the
soft tyre. He would pit and change front wings returning to the original
configuration. Nicholas would complete a single installation lap with his
car also running the older barge board configuration. With twenty minutes
completed Nicholas would return this time on the intermediate tyre. He was
no longer running the aero rakes and would pit returning on the soft tyre.
He would set a 1m:24.463 to be the only car to set a time. He would improve
with a 1m:23.288 to be currently sixth.
Nicholas would drop to 14th and then further down the order. he would set a
1m:22.996 to be ahead of his team-mate. But George would move ahead seeing
Nicholas 18th. Nicholas would pit having completed ten laps on the soft
tyre. His second run would see him run the old front wing and barge board
configuration running on the soft tyre and would set a 1m:21.699 to be 17th.
This was an improvement of over a second. he would pit after a five lap run.
Nicholas would return with the session restart and would drop to 20th
despite setting an improved 1m:21.566. This would see him 1.018 behind his
team-mate. He would pit after a five lap run returning for a further soft
tyre run. He would pit with the end of the session having completed an seven
lap run.
George Russell:
George would follow his team-mate out also on the soft tyre. George was
running the new barge board configuration but the older front wing. With
just over an hour remaining and George would return remaining on the soft
tyre. George's initial lap was a 1m:33.225 but he would improve with a
1m:23.147 to move ahead of his team-mate. But Nicholas would improve to be
ahead followed by George improving with a 1m:22.947 to be 0.049 ahead of
Nicholas. George had improved with a 1m:22.874 to be just 0.122 ahead of
Nicholas. George would comment that his left front looked like cheese. For
his next run the new front wing would go onto his car and he would seta
1m:20.940 to be 14th. He would pit after a three lap run. After a red flag
was cleared he would return for a further soft tyre run. He would improve
with a 1m:20.548 to be 17th, dropping to 19th. He would pit after a three
lap run also returning for a further soft tyre run. He would complete eight
laps with the end of the session. |
