Azerbaijan GP: FP2 another tough session for Williams Racing


By Andrew Hooper
June 4 2021

The results of the second Friday practice session for the 2021 Azerbaijan GP would see both Williams Racing cars well down the order with George Russell 17th and Nicholas Latifi 20th. For Nicholas his session would come to an early stop when he has engine related issue seeing his car stop on track. For George he would complete soft and medium tyre runs but such are the conditions and the FW43B it was a struugle to set an improved times over the early Friday session. 

 
 Williams Racing Azerbaijan GP Friday 2nd Practice
 
Latifi
 

Team Summary:
After a difficult opening Friday practice session the Williams Racing Team would commence the second knowing that it is going to be an up hill task as they try to gain extra performance from their car. The start would see a large group of cars coming out including both Williams cars with the majority of the cars on the medium tyre. Alonso was out on the soft tyre while Mazepin was the last car out. With the opening series of times Sainz would be quickest with a 1m:44.072. Perez was second followed by Raikkonen. On the soft tyre Alonso would go quickest with a 1m:43,657 only to see Gasly move ahead with a 1m:43.216 now followed by Verstappen and Alonso. The Williams drivers were currently 14th and 15th but this would change as others went quicker.

Sainz was now quickest with a 1m:43.162 followed by Leclerc and Gasly. Verstappen was fourth followed by Alonso, Tsunoda, Ricciardo, Giovinazzi, Perez and Raikkonen tenth. The Williams drivers were currently 13th and 18th as the session was Red Flagged with one of the Williams stopping out on the track with a engine issue. The car would be removed seeing Nicholas standing watching events occur around him knowing that his time on the track was now limited. The session would restart as drivers returned this time with the soft tyre being the most common.

On the soft tyre Sainz would set a 1m:42.243 to remain quickest. Giovinazzi was now third followed by Norris, Gasly, and Verstappen sixth all on the soft tyre. Perez would improve to now be third as we would see Leclerc go off er into the barriers damaging his front wing. He had locked up and would not be able to make it through the corner. He would recover a return his car back into the pits where the nose would be replaced. Gasly would return to be third but this would become fourth as Perez want fastest with a 1m:42.115. Verstappen was now second ahead of Sainz and Leclerc.

Twenty minutes remaining in the session the Williams Racing Team would see their cars in 17th and 19th with one car out for the session. Not what the team was hoping to see. Eight minutes left in the session and there was a mix of tyres in use as drivers worked on longer runs. The order was currently Perez, Verstappen, Sainz, Leclerc, Gasly, Alonso, Giovinazzi, Norris, Ocon, and Tsunoda tenth. The Mercedes pair were 11th and 16th. For Williams the end of the session would see their cars in 17th and 20th. It was going to be a long night for the team as they work through their data looking to find any extra performance.

George Russell:
George would start his second session also running on the medium tyre. His first time was a 1m:46.036 seeing him tenth. With a 1m:45.025 George was currently 11th dropping to 12th. This would become 13th as he was forced to pit with a Red Flag. Upon his return it was now on the soft tyre. A 1m:44.557 from George would only see him remain 13th. He would drop to 14th with thirty five minutes of the session remaining. George had been complaining that his brakes had been feeling very poor with poor deceleration. He would pit after a six lap run currently 17th. He would return for a run on the medium tyre and as the session drew to a close he would continue to put in laps on what was a longer run. With the end of the session George would complete eleven laps.

Nicholas Latifi:
With the start of the session Nicholas would be out early running on the medium tyre. A 1m:46.983 would see Nicholas currently 11th. But he would drop to 18th as others went quicker. Nicholas would have a moment going off when his engine died. He would be stuck at the exit of Turn 15. This would see the session Red Flagged as he tried to continue. He was currently 18th. This would see Nicholas's session come to an end. He would drop to 19th as others improved. This would become 20th and slowest.

 
Russell
 
Cla Driver Chassis Engine Time Gap
1  Sergio Perez Red Bull Honda 1'42.115  
2  Max Verstappen Red Bull Honda 1'42.216 0.101
3  Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari Ferrari 1'42.243 0.128
4  Charles Leclerc Ferrari Ferrari 1'42.436 0.321
5  Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri Honda 1'42.534 0.419
6  Fernando Alonso Alpine Renault 1'42.693 0.578
7  Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Ferrari 1'42.941 0.826
8  Lando Norris McLaren Mercedes 1'43.018 0.903
9  Esteban Ocon Alpine Renault 1'43.020 0.905
10  Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri Honda 1'43.130 1.015
11  Lewis Hamilton Mercedes Mercedes 1'43.156 1.041
12  Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo Ferrari 1'43.220 1.105
13  Daniel Ricciardo McLaren Mercedes 1'43.298 1.183
14  Lance Stroll Aston Martin Mercedes 1'43.812 1.697
15  Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin Mercedes 1'43.881 1.766
16  Valtteri Bottas Mercedes Mercedes 1'44.184 2.069
17  George Russell Williams Mercedes 1'44.557 2.442
18  Nikita Mazepin Haas Ferrari 1'45.563 3.448
19  Mick Schumacher Haas Ferrari 1'46.095 3.980
20  Nicholas Latifi Williams Mercedes 1'46.983 4.868
 
Latifi
 

Azerbaijan GP: FP2 another tough session for Williams Racing
Posted by: Williams F1 (IP Logged)
Date: 04/06/2021 14:35

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