Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance: From testing for an entire day with only 10 cars on the track to two one-hour sessions with the entire field on track is a big change and so we used today to check the two cars and to get both drivers accustomed to this wind direction.
We have struggled a bit for pace today, but we did get through our programme, with only a minor radio issue for Alex losing us time. The conditions this evening were close to what we are expecting for Qualifying and so it was a good opportunity to get the tyres into a good window. We didn’t quite get it right today and so there is more to come tomorrow. The new regulations and limited working time mean that we have had to make some decisions with less analysis than we are used to, but we enjoy this need for agility and we are confident that we can still improve the car overnight.
Nicholas Latifi: We’re where we expected to be after the test last week, but our learning from today is that there are some easy areas we can find some time and try to improve the performance. It’s clear we’re not where we want to be and we know the limitations that are holding us back. We’re still building confidence with each lap, each session and each new set of tyres and working to understand exactly how the car needs to be set up to be driven fastest. That might not be based on knowledge we have from previous years, or experience from my natural driving style, so it’s working out the set-up to extract the most potential, which we’re still working on.
Alex Albon: It’s been good to get back out on track today and do some running in conditions that are more representative of those we’ll be racing in. I think we’re all aware that the car felt better in Barcelona; historically Bahrain is a track that we struggle with and the wind, sand and heat doesn’t help, but we’re understanding the limitations and adapting our driving style to cope with the challenges. The team have a strong direction that we’re pushing for and we’re all very motivated, so I think we’re making progress.
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