Abu Dhabi GP: Encouraging FP1 for Williams Racing


By Andrew Hooper
November 18 2022

The opening Friday practice session for the 2022 Abu Dhabi GP would see the Williams Racing Team come away with what was an encouraging session for the team. In the session Nicholas Latifi would be replaced by Logan Sargeant and the American driver would finish in 15th. Alex Albon would finish the session in 10th. Both drivers would set their quickest time on the soft tyre. Despite being a positive session the real test will be FP2 which is run at the most representative time of the day.

 
 Williams Racing Abu Dhabi GP Friday 1st Practice
 
Sargeant
 

Team Summary:
With Logan Sargeant replacing Nicholas Latifi at Williams Racing for the opening Friday practice for the 2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix the session would get underway. There were several other young drivers coming out in the session O'Ward in McLaren, Doohan in at Alpine, Schwartzman in at Ferrari, Lawson in at Red Bull, Fittipaldi in in the Haas, Kubica in at Alfa Romeo and Drugovich at Aston Martin. Very quickly the whole field would be out running including both Williams. Ocon on the soft was quickest with a 1m:29.496 followed by Leclerc and Bottas. Also on the soft Perez was now quickest with a 1m:28.926 from Ocon and Lawson on the hard. Hamilton would move into third while we would have Bottas now second but just as quickly Leclerc would go fastest with a 1m:28.724.

Lawson was now second followed by Perez. But we would have a Williams go third to be ahead of Perez. Leclerc had improved with a a 1m:27.917 followed by Perez and Lawson. Tsunoda was now fourth followed by Alex and Ocon. Still on the soft Perez would again go quickest with a time of 1m:27.853. Leclerc was second followed by Lawson, Ocon, Tsunoda, Alex, Russell, Bottas, Gasly, and Doohan tenth. The second Williams was now 11th with thirty seven minutes remaining in the session. As soft tyre runs started to be completed we would see a Williams move up to be be third but as other soft tyre times were set we would then see the Williams pair quickest and sixth.

But Perez would return to the top of the times now followed by Bottas and Alex. But Leclerc would improve to be quickest with a time of 1m:26.888 followed by Perez, Bottas, Alex, Ocon, Tsunoda, Kubica, Logan, Magnussen, and Fittipaldi tenth. With thirteen minutes remaining we would see Hamilton go quickest with a 1m:26.633 to be followed by team-mate Russell and Leclerc. The Williams pair were now seventh and 12th but this would become tenth and 15th as others went quicker on soft tyre runs. So with the end of the session Hamilton would remain quickest from Russell, Leclerc, Perez, Lawson, Vettel, Schwartzman, Ricciardo, Bottas and Alex tenth. The second Williams would finish in 15th ending Logan's free practice run. For Williams this was a encouraging session but the real test will be FP2 which is run at the most representative time of the day.

Alex Albon:
Alex's first lap was a 1m:30.548 to be seventh. This would become 11th but with a 1m:28.909 he would improve and move up to be third. This would become fourth as he pitted after a six lap run on the medium. He would return on used medium tyres currently fifth. Alex would improve with a 1m:28.625 to again be fifth but would drop to sixth. He would pit again after a three lap run. He would return this time on the soft tyre he would set a 1m:27.840 to be quickest so far in the session. He would drop to be fourth as he pitted after a six lap run returning again to complete a single lap on used soft tyres dropping to fifth. Alex would return for a further medium tyre run currently tenth and with the end of the session would complete a nine lap run as well as been able to complete a practice start from the grid.

Logan Sargeant:
On the hard Logan would set a 1m:32.316 to be fifth but he would drop to twelfth. Despite having been able to improve with a 1m:31.130 he was now 14th. A 1m:29.819 would see Logan move up to tenth. Logan would pit after a nine lap run and he the pits he would drop to 12th as other drivers completed soft tyre runs. But Logan would return for a run on the soft tyre currently 14th. And with a 1m:28.098 Logan would move up to be third. This would become fourth but he was to have a moment going off at Turn one but was able to avoid contact with the barrier. He got going again saying the tyres were finished. Now fifth he would pit after a four lap run. His next run was back onto the hard tyre with twenty minutes remaining now seventh in the order. He would drop to be 14th with eight minutes of the session remaining. After a ten lap run he would pit currently 15th and this would see his run come to an end.

 
Albon
 
Cla Driver Chassis Time Gap
1  Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1'26.633  
2  George Russell Mercedes 1'26.853 0.220
3  Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1'26.888 0.255
4  Sergio Perez Red Bull 1'26.967 0.334
5  Liam Lawson Red Bull 1'27.201 0.568
6  Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 1'27.268 0.635
7  Robert Shwartzman Ferrari 1'27.429 0.796
8  Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 1'27.619 0.986
9  Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 1'27.655 1.022
10  Alex Albon Williams 1'27.840 1.207
11  Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 1'27.845 1.212
12  Esteban Ocon Alpine 1'27.891 1.258
13  Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1'27.991 1.358
14  Robert Kubica Alfa Romeo 1'28.064 1.431
15  Logan Sargeant Williams 1'28.098 1.465
16  Kevin Magnussen Haas 1'28.142 1.509
17  Pietro Fittipaldi Haas 1'28.204 1.571
18  Patricio O'Ward McLaren 1'28.350 1.717
19  Jack Doohan Alpine 1'28.484 1.851
20  Felipe Drugovich Aston Martin 1'28.672 2.039
 
Sargeant