FP1
Weather: Warm and Dry
Air & Track Temperatures: 13-15°C / 25-32°C
V Bottas, FW38-03, PU106C Hybrid, 1:16.301 (6th)
F Massa, FW38-02, PU106C Hybrid, 1:17.065 (14th)
Quickest time: L. Hamilton (1:14.755)
FP2
Weather: Warm and Dry
Air & Track Temperatures: 17-20°C / 43-46°C
V Bottas, FW38-03, PU106C Hybrid, 1:15.213 (6th)
F Massa, FW38-02, PU106C Hybrid, 1:15.513 (13th)
Quickest time: L. Hamilton (1:14.212)
Objectives: Aero evaluations, set-up and tyre work.
Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering: FP1 was a little bit fraught with what happened on Felipe’s car. The DRS didn’t close under braking, we’re still investigating as to why, but that then left Felipe with a lack of rear downforce under braking and he spun causing quite a lot of damage. We did a very good job to get the car built for FP2, where we tried to recover some of the test programme that we missed out on in FP1 on Felipe’s car. I think he’s recovered admirably and done a good job, as has Valtteri, who has got through most of his Friday programme. There’s a lot for us to take away from these two sessions between the two cars. I think overall we can be quite happy as we’re much more competitive here than we have been in the last two races, both on low and high fuel runs. I don’t think we’ve exercised anywhere near the limit of the car, which is a good thing. We’ve got bits and pieces to do tonight but overall it’s a competitive package we just have to make sure that we have a good Saturday and more importantly come away with a good haul of points.
Valtteri Bottas: It’s always really good fun to drive on this track – so I really enjoyed today. We managed to get the car balanced pretty quickly and to get good drivability, so I’m quite happy with the car already, but I’m sure we can make it better. Overall it’s been a positive Friday and I think tomorrow is going to be very close so anything we can find overnight is going to be very useful.
Felipe Massa: It wasn’t really a positive day after what happened in the first session. We lost a lot of time and a lot of pieces of the car. It’s never nice to crash, especially not straight away in the first session. On a positive note, the car was very good this afternoon. There’s still room for improvement to make the car perfect for tomorrow after what happened in the first session. But, we’ll make the most of FP3 and make sure we have everything right for qualifying. For sure, the car seems to be much more competitive straight away compared to Monaco. I hope that carries into tomorrow and Sunday.
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