2017 Williams Martini Racing Team - Mercedes

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BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX QUALIFYING
15 APR 2017

Bahrain International Circuit, Bahrain
5.412km / 3.362 miles
Weather: Hot and dry
Temperature: Air 29-32°C Track: 31-34°C

Q1

F. Massa 1:31.373 (7th)
L. Stroll 1:31.748 (12th)
Quickest time: L. Hamilton 1:30.814

Q2

F. Massa 1:30.677 (8th)
L. Stroll 1:31.168 (12th)
Quickest time: L. Hamilton 1:29.535

Q3

F. Massa 1:30.074 (8th)
L.Stroll -

Quickest time: V. Bottas 1:28.769

Qualifying Notes

Felipe Massa qualified eighth and Lance Stroll 12th for the Bahrain Grand Prix
Felipe made it comfortably through to Q2 with his first lap on the supersofts. Lance was in P16 but managed to put in a solid lap to jump up to P12 and progress to Q2
In Q2 Lance was briefly in P10, and through to Q3, but as others took the chequered flag and improved he dropped to P12, where he will start the race tomorrow
Felipe set one time on the supersofts in Q2, which was enough to take him comfortably through to the final part of qualifying
In Q3 Felipe set a 1:30.074 on a new set of supersofts which was good enough for P8


Paddy Lowe, Chief Technical Officer: Overall I’m quite pleased. We had a trouble free session and Felipe did a good lap at the end for P8. I think Lance should be very happy with his qualifying because it’s a difficult circuit with varying conditions between sessions and it’s quite tricky on tyres, so I think he’s done a really good job in only his third Formula One qualifying session. It also puts him in a good position to start the race, with a free tyre choice and new sets available. Equally for Felipe we have some good opportunities for the race and we look forward to seeing what we can do tomorrow. I also want to say a massive congratulations to Valtteri, who started his Formula One journey at Williams back in 2010, and who did a great job achieving his first pole position today.

Felipe Massa: I’m happy with our qualifying session and the job that we did. Maybe the perfect position would have been seventh as we lost a little bit of time at the end there. But, I’m really looking forward to the race tomorrow. I’m happy with the performance of the car across the whole weekend, not only on new tyres but also the old tyres. Tomorrow is another day and we need to concentrate on getting everything right and try to get a better position tomorrow.

Lance Stroll: Looking at the times it’s really close, so I’m happy. I wouldn’t say we have been struggling, but it has been difficult for us this weekend just getting the tyres in the window for a qualifying lap and suffering with low grip here. It was not easy in qualifying on that first run, but once I knew where the grip was and how the car was I was able to deliver it on that second lap, but unfortunately that only gave us one set for Q2. However, I think it was a good effort with the one set we had. P12 is not too bad. It’s obviously not what we needed to get into Q3, but I am pleased with the day and looking forward to tomorrow.

[LookBackTime]

[Sevach]

Again nicely done Felipe.

No fault for Stroll this time.

[LookBackTime]

Again nicely done Felipe.

No fault for Stroll this time.

Looks like they got the fastest pit also!

19 Felipe Massa WILLIAMS MERCEDES 37 19:06:22 24.240

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#AskCrofty 3 place grid penalty for Carlos Sainz for crashing into Lance Stroll, just announced!

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Irony !?

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FIA: "Car 55 left the pit lane and made a very optimistic attempt to pass car 18 into the corner." 3 grid places and 2 pen points for SAI

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https://twitter.com/F1/status/853691829199396866

[void]

Irony !?

http://adn.gpupdate.net/large/303006.jpg

A clever new way to show sponsor products!

[LookBackTime]

BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX
16 APR 2017

Bahrain International Circuit, Bahrain
5.412km / 3.362 miles

Race Notes:

Felipe Massa finished sixth in the Bahrain Grand Prix
Lance Stroll’s race came to an early conclusion on lap 12 after being hit by Sainz
Both cars started the race on the supersoft tyre. Felipe gained several positions to jump up to P6, while Lance fell to P14
Lance was closing in on Palmer before pitting for a new set of soft tyres on lap nine. He rejoined in P18 and set the fastest lap of the race before the incident with Sainz
Felipe ran as high as fourth after he pitted during the safety car for a new set of soft tyres and passed Ricciardo on the restart
Raikkonen and Ricciardo both managed to get back ahead of Felipe into Turn 1, which moved him back down to sixth, where he finished 8.2s ahead of Perez
Felipe moves up to seventh in the Drivers’ Championship, whilst WILLIAMS MARTINI RACING moves up to fifth in the Constructors’ Championship


Paddy Lowe, Chief Technical Officer: It was a great day for Felipe, he drove extremely well. He had a good clean start, made some places and defended well. Although, ultimately, we couldn’t cling on to fourth, but it was a really great drive from him to finish sixth. On Lance’s side, he started 12th but fell to 14th on the opening lap. We boxed him early, which had always been our plan because we had the tyres to do it, however it was initiated by a minor flat-spot. On his second stint he was actually setting a very good pace. Unfortunately, he was caught out by Sainz who was exiting the pits. It’s a real shame, as the collision brought his race to a premature end. However, I’m sure he’ll come back stronger in Russia. Overall it was a great job by the team, we’re now up to fifth in the Constructors’ Championship and we’re looking forward to Russia. Finally, Happy 75th Birthday to Frank!

Felipe Massa: I would say it was a great day and I managed to have a great race with a perfect start. What a great first lap - I passed Hulkenberg and I managed to pass Kimi at corner four. I kept the tyres working in the right way and then I passed Daniel after the safety car which was great. After a while, they managed to get better pace out of their tyres and jump ahead of us with the car they have. But to be honest, the positon I finished today was like a victory and it’s important for the whole team. Today is Frank’s birthday, and although he deserves a victory, it is like one. I am sure he is happy and very proud of his team.

Lance Stroll: I saw Sainz coming out of the pitlane, I was 50 or 60 metres in front of him in the braking zone, and was already turning in and he drove into my side. There is not much else to say, as I have just seen the video and it was ridiculous. I think the race wasn’t going badly. I had a bad start and lost a couple of positions, but boxed early and had a really good beginning to the stint on the soft tyres. I am just disappointed and hope my luck turns round sometime soon. I can be frustrated, but it won’t get me anywhere. On the bright side there are many races to go.

[LookBackTime]

[Raleigh]

After a very quiet Australian GP and being filtered back through the pack with no grip in China, this race lays to rest any concerns that Felipe might be past his best. Some excellent wheel-to-wheel action, sharp racing and good use of opportunities to overtake at the start and after the safety car. A well deserved 6th place after running ahead of Red Bulls and Ferraris for much of the race.

Not as impressed by Stroll, he lost places at the start, flatspotted his tires and while the collision was Sainz's fault, a more experienced driver might have expected an overtake attempt and been looking in his mirrors. Typical rookie stuff, but most rookies work through this part of their career in lower formula, so a little painful to be driving like this in an F1 car.

Car itself looks good, clearly best of the rest behind the top 3 teams with no real threats on pace, just need Stroll to start finishing races and picking up points so the team can protect it's position until Paddy Lowe and Dirk de Beer can make their impact felt and develop the car to challenge Ferrari/Mercedes/Red Bull.

[Sevach]

#AskCrofty 3 place grid penalty for Carlos Sainz for crashing into Lance Stroll, just announced!

Fair, that was clearly on Sainz, he could never make that corner like that.

[edu2703]

After a very quiet Australian GP and being filtered back through the pack with no grip in China, this race lays to rest any concerns that Felipe might be past his best. Some excellent wheel-to-wheel action, sharp racing and good use of opportunities to overtake at the start and after the safety car. A well deserved 6th place after running ahead of Red Bulls and Ferraris for much of the race.

Not as impressed by Stroll, he lost places at the start, flatspotted his tires and while the collision was Sainz's fault, a more experienced driver might have expected an overtake attempt and been looking in his mirrors. Typical rookie stuff, but most rookies work through this part of their career in lower formula, so a little painful to be driving like this in an F1 car.

Car itself looks good, clearly best of the rest behind the top 3 teams with no real threats on pace, just need Stroll to start finishing races and picking up points so the team can protect it's position until Paddy Lowe and Dirk de Beer can make their impact felt and develop the car to challenge Ferrari/Mercedes/Red Bull.

At least that. But if Williams (again) stops the development of 2017 car to focus on the 2018 car and/or Stroll doesn't improve his performance,they can already forget the 4th, 5th and 6th place in the championship.

Toro Rosso can be more competitive with the new Renault PU that will debut in the Canadian GP. Force India will debut a ''B'' spec car, I don't know when. Renault has a lot of money for the development of car. The Renault car is already faster than Williams in the qualifying, but remains slow on race pace because of high tire wear.

The midfield is very tight, so Williams needs to improve to remain 'the best of the rest'.

[LookBackTime]

https://twitter.com/WilliamsRacing/stat ... 3609233409
Paffett to test for Williams in Bahrain
2017 F1 seasonPosted on | 17th April 2017, 11:41Author Keith Collantine

Williams has confirmed Gary Paffett will test for them during the two-day session in Bahrain which starts tomorrow.

Paffett will drive the FW40 on Wednesday at the Bahrain International Circuit. Race drivers Lance Stroll and Felipe Massa will share driving duties on Tuesday with Stroll taking the morning session and Massa the afternoon running.

The 36-year-old drives for Mercedes in the DTM. His team mate Paul di Resta is Williams’ official reserve driver.

Teams are required to use at least two days of their in-season testing to run drivers who have not started more than two F1 races. The 36-year-old Paffett, who has extensive testing experience from his time with McLaren but has never started a race, meets this criteria. Di Resta, who raced in F1 with Force India between 2011 and 2013, does not.

McLaren will also use its test driver Oliver Turvey for one of the two days of this week’s test. The Formula E racer will have his first run in the MCL32 on Tuesday before handing over to Stoffel Vandoorne for the second day.

Red Bull’s junior driver Pierre Gasly will drive the RB13 on Wednesday while Daniel Ricciardo will do the first day of the test. Mercedes will run Lewis Hamilton on Tuesday and Valtteri Bottas on Wednesday.

Also at the two-day test Ferrari will conduct one day of 2018 tyre development for Pirelli.