70th Anniversary Grand Prix 2020 – Practice

Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance: We had another productive day, with both sessions providing some very useful testing opportunities. The change in tyre compound stiffness from last week – one-step softer – and the lighter winds have changed the car a little since last week. However, we were still able to evaluate some new parts and ideas whilst also understanding the behaviour of the soft tyre. The car continues to improve, and we are confident that we can consolidate the performance improvement seen last week. The next group of cars are still a little way down the road, but everyone is pushing hard to help us get closer to the heart of the midfield as soon as possible.

Both drivers did well today and having back-to-back races at the same venue affords them a rare opportunity to complete some different tests. Both drivers have embraced the tests and provided us with valuable feedback, which will help us set the car ready for what looks likely to be two more warm days here at Silverstone.

George Russell: It was good fun out there and the conditions were very different to last week. It was very tricky on the C4 tyre, but I think everybody found that tough. At least a third of the grid set their quickest time on the medium tyre and not on the soft. I think it will be an interesting and tricky qualifying session. I think if you play it right you can set your quickest lap on the mediums, so there will be some interesting strategies tomorrow.

Nicholas Latifi: Overall it was a positive day. Straight away coming back to the same track you already feel in the rhythm. FP1 was quite good and the balance was feeling nice on the new C4 tyre. In all honestly, I struggled to find a comfortable balance in FP2, but again we were just trying some different things. I think it’s going to be quite an exciting and unpredictable race. I’m not sure how the tyre compounds are going to react so I’m looking forward to it. I think if we can show what we showed today, then we will be quite competitive.