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Team Summary:
With the start of the first Friday practice session for the 2020 Russian
Grand Prix there would be a flow of drivers coming out for their
installation laps including both Williams drivers. The first time would come
from Hamilton with a 1m:37.716 using the hard tyre but Bottas would go
quicker with a 1m:37.313 using the medium. With twenty minutes of the
session completed drivers would start to return to the track as Albon went
third on the hard tyre. Kvyat was now second behind Bottas. Perez would go
quickest using the medium tyre setting a 1m:37.304. But Kvyat would improve
to be quickest with a 1m:37.124 followed by Perez and Bottas. Magnussen was
fourth followed by Verstappen and Leclerc with the Haas and Ferrari drivers
on the soft tyre. As the track improved the order would change rapidly with
Ricciardo setting a 1m:36.852 to be quickest on the hard tyre.
Perez was now second followed by Leclerc, Sainz, Kvyat, Ocon and Bottas now
eighth. After their first runs the Williams drivers were 14th and 18th.
Verstappen was now quickest with a 1m:36.751 using the hard tyre but on the
soft Bottas would improve with a 1m:34.923 to be quickest. Perez was now
second followed by Verstappen and Ricciardo. With the first forty minutes
completed the track would empty with the Williams drivers 13th and 16th
while the top ten was Bottas, Perez, Verstappen, Ricciardo, Leclerc, Gasly,
Sainz, Kvyat, Ocon and Stroll. Hamilton was down in 15th after not getting a
quick lap in. The first cars to return weer the Mercedes with Bottas on the
medium and Hamilton the hard. They were joined by the Ferrari's also using
the split tyre runs. The track would become quite busy as the session
continued. Both Racing Point cars were on soft tyre runs joined by the Red
Bull's.
But the session would be red flagged when Nicholas would crash his Williams
losing the rear end of his car ending up in the barrier with extensive
damage to the car. The session would restart and we would see the track
again busy. Bottas would continue to be quickest but he was followed by
Ricciardo, Verstappen, Perez, Stroll and Ocon in sixth. With the end of the
session the order would remain the same with Kvyat in seventh followed by
Albon, Vettel and Gasly tenth. The Williams drivers would finish in 17th and
20th, Very much a session that was marred by the crash of Nicholas.
George Russell:
George would follow his team-mate out also using the hard tyre for his
single installation lap. George was back out using the soft tyre for his
first timed laps. George would set a 1m:38.005 to be 12th. George would
improve with a 1m:37.595 after four laps on the soft tyre. He would pit
after a six lap run. With the session restart George would return running on
the hard tyre. He was currently 17th and would finish the session in this
position completing his hard tyre run. George would suffer from lock-ups in
particular at Turn thirteen.
Nichols Latifi:
With the start of the Friday practice Nicholas would be out first for
Williams using the hard tyre. He would complete a single installation lap.
With just over an hour and five minutes remaining Nicholas would return this
time on the soft tyre. His first time would be a 1m:38.779 to be 14th. He
would drop to 18th but would improve with a 1m:37.784 to be 16th. Nicholas
would pit after a six lap run. With forty minutes remaining Nicholas would
return on the medium tyre. But his session would end when he would crash at
Turn 10 seeing him lose his car ending up in the barrier. He would comment
to his engineer "I crashed. I'm okay. Sorry guys". With his car back in teh
garage and with his mechanics starting the process of repairing the car
Nicholas had dropped to be 20th and with the end of the session would only
complete just eleven laps. |
