Bahrain-J8: Williams keeps hands with Bottas

Williams F1 Team is once again in evidence in Bahrain since Valtteri Bottas achieved the best time of the morning with a time of 1'34"797, 1"5 from the season record set the day before by his teammate Felipe Massa. The Finn was also diligent with 60 laps on the clock, a course twice as long as that of the Ferrari F14 T with Fernando Alonso which is seven tenths from the FW36. Force India remains at the forefront with Nico Hulkenberg which precedes the Toro Rosso by Jean-Éric Vergne.

Adrian Sutil made up some of the ground lost the day before with 91 laps completed at the wheel of the Sauber C33. The German is ahead of McLaren MP4-29 by Jenson Button. On the other hand, Mercedes F1 Team had a difficult morning with only five laps covered by the W05 Lewis Hamilton. Lotus F1 Team was a little more active with 26 laps completed by Romain Grosjean before the former GP2 Series champion stopped on the track at the break. Red Bull Racing also caused a red flag after 44 laps completed by Sebastian Vettel. The four-time world champion suffered a broken brake disc. Caterham was more diligent than Marussia with 58 laps completed by Kamui Kobayashi compared to ten by Max Chilton.

Results of day 8 at mid-session

1. Valtteri Bottas? Williams? 1'34"797? 60 rounds
2. Fernando Alonso? Ferrari +0”712? 27 rounds
3. Nico Hülkenberg? Force India +0 »780? 33 rounds
4. Jean-Éric Vergne? Toro Rosso +0 »904? 43 rounds
5. Adrian Sutil? Sauber +1 »670? 91 rounds
6. Jenson Button? McLaren +3 »314? 20 rounds
7. Lewis Hamilton? Mercedes +3 »853? 5 rounds
8. Kamui Kobayashi? Caterham +3 »856 ? 58 rounds
9. Romain Grosjean? Lotus +4 »505? 26 rounds
10. Sebastian Vettel? Red Bull +4”911? 44 rounds
11. Max Chilton? Marussia +6 »445? 10 rounds