British GP: Wet weather hampers Williams Racing FP1
By Andrew Hooper
July 1 2022
The opening Friday practice session for the 2022 British GP was meant to be a session that would allow the team the opportunity to run their newly upgraded FW44. The team had brought a car that had seen massive chnages and was meant to see Alex Albon complete its first run but with a wet track the team apart from a single installation lap would not risk the new car in the tricky conditions seeing Alex fail to set a time. Nicholas Latifi's session was the same also failing to set a time.
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Williams
Racing British GP Friday 1st Practice |
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Team Summary:
With the Williams Racing team arriving with an upgraded car for one of their
drivers the opening Friday practice would see the team essentially run back
to back tests comparing the old and the new car. With the start of the
opening Friday session the rain would start to fall. Those drivers who came
out were all on the intermediate tyre. Several of those running would all
quickly pit leaving the track empty except Leclerc who would set a
1mL44.769. He would improve with a 1m:43.801 as Alonso came out as the rain
started to clear. More drivers al using the intermediate tyre would start to
come out. Stroll was now second from Tsunoda and Vettel.
Sainz would move in to second ahead of Stroll. he would then go quickest
with a 1m:42.967 prior to pitting. Only the Alfa Romeos were running with
close to twenty minutes of the session completed. The sun was now shinning
with only eight drivers having set times. Bottas and Zhou were now third and
fourth. Bottas would improve to be second ahead of Leclerc as the track
emptied. With twenty minutes remaining the track was still empty but
unfortunately it started to rain again. With twelve minutes remaining
Hamilton was back out as the sun again returned. he would go seventh with
eight minutes remaining. He would pit switching to the soft tyre. Both
Ferrari's were back out but Leclerc would pit followed by Sainz. Both Aston
Martin cars and Gasly and Norris were out on the soft tyre.
They were joined by more drivers as Bottas set a 1m:42.249 to be quickest.
The soft tyre was the main choice as both Red Bull cars were out running.
Stroll would go off at Copse seeing a Red Flag and the end of the session.
Neither Williams driver had returned as the session ended. For those who set
times the top ten were Bottas, Hamilton, Sainz, Leclerc, Schumacher, Zhou,
Magnussen, Stroll, Tsunoda and Vettel tenth and the last driver to set a
time. Very much a lost opportunity for Williams.
Alex Albon:
Alex would be using an upgraded FW44 for the British GP weekend so his focus
will be on assessing his new package. Alex would come out with ten minutes
of the session completed but would pit after a single lap on the
intermediate tyre. Alex would say that it was very wet and dry around the
track. He would not return for the rest of the session not setting a time.
Nicholas Latifi:
With fifteen minutes of the session completed Nicholas would come out using
the intermediate tyre. He would pit after a single lap and would not return
and not set a time. |
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1 |
Valtteri Bottas
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9 |
1'42.249
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2 |
Lewis Hamilton
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10 |
1'42.781
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0.532
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3 |
Carlos Sainz
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8 |
1'42.967
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0.718
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4 |
Charles Leclerc
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7 |
1'43.801
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1.552
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5 |
Mick Schumacher
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3 |
1'43.895
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1.646
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6 |
Zhou Guanyu
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4 |
1'46.171
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3.922
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7 |
Kevin Magnussen
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3 |
1'48.161
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5.912
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8 |
Lance Stroll
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5 |
1'51.243
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8.994
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9 |
Yuki Tsunoda
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5 |
1'51.373
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9.124
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10 |
Sebastian Vettel
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5 |
1'59.168
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16.919
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11 |
George Russell
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2 | | | |
12 |
Sergio Perez
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3 | | | |
13 |
Esteban Ocon
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2 | | | |
14 |
Fernando Alonso
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1 | | | |
15 |
Alex Albon
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1 | | | |
16 |
Daniel Ricciardo
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4 | | | |
17 |
Pierre Gasly
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3 | | | |
18 |
Lando Norris
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4 | | | |
19 |
Nicholas Latifi
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1 | | | |
20 |
Max Verstappen
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3 | | |
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