FP1
Weather: Mild and dry
Air & Track Temperatures: 18-21°C / 22-29°C
F. Massa, FW40-04, Mercedes-AMG F1 M08 EQ Power+, No time set (20th)
L. Stroll, FW40-03, Mercedes-AMG F1 M08 EQ Power+, 1:48.541 (15th)
Quickest time: K. Raikkonen 1:45.502
FP2
Weather: Mild and wet
Air & Track Temperatures: 19-23°C / 20-31°C
F. Massa, FW40-04, Mercedes-AMG F1 M08 EQ Power+, No time set
L. Stroll, FW40-03, Mercedes-AMG F1 M08 EQ Power+, 1:47.861 (17th)
Quickest time: L. Hamilton 1:44.753
Paddy Lowe, Chief Technical Officer: It wasn’t the best Friday of the year. Unfortunately, Felipe lost the car in Turn Seven on his first timed-lap with fairly heavy damage to the left-hand side of the car, including some damage to the chassis which we couldn’t repair. We’ve therefore changed his chassis and that will be re-scrutineered in the morning for him to run in FP3. As we were unable to get any more mileage for Felipe today it is a big loss in terms of the test programme we had, both parts and homework, for the weekend and indeed Felipe needed time in the car, given that he missed out on the Hungarian race. On Lance’s side we had a pretty good session in FP1, doing some aerodynamic tests. In FP2, due to various more lengthy changes, he only managed the running on low fuel before the rain came in and even then, within that there was traffic on his ultrasoft laps. So, not great on the timesheet but we’ve learned some good information so we’ll be doing a lot of work tonight to be in the best place for running tomorrow.
Lance Stroll: That was not where we were hoping to be. We are just struggling to carry speed through the corners and be as competitive as we want to be. We need to improve in the high-speed corners, as we are still suffering with the same kind of problems we faced in Silverstone and Austria. We just can’t seem to carry the entry speed in those typical high-loaded, long corners. We need to work on the balance for tomorrow and understand how we can be more competitive in FP3. But things can change, as we have a lot of people looking how to improve and I am sure after the briefing we will understand more.
Felipe Massa: A session to forget for me. On the first lap I had big oversteer in corner seven when I touched the inside kerb. It was my mistake and I feel really disappointed to do only one lap in the day. It’s not positive for the weekend because when you lose two sessions like that it’s difficult to understand everything about the car. Tomorrow will be a day to learn everything from zero. I think the session was not great for Lance as well, looking at the car it didn’t seem as competitive as we want to be yet. There’s a lot to learn and understand tomorrow, and I really hope we can improve.
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