Objectives: Set-up work, tyre work, mechanical tests and some aero evaluations.
Xevi Pujolar, Chief Race Engineer: This morning we completed some aero tests with both cars as well as some mechanical tests. We were also fine tuning the set-up to the new construction tyres we have from here onwards. In FP2 Pastor continued with some further aero tests while Valtteri focussed on gathering tyre data with some short and long runs. The tyres are behaving as we expected from the test at Silverstone and on Sunday with even higher ambient temperatures the focus will be on thermal management in all areas including tyres, engine and brakes. We need to analyse the data from FP2 and we’ll have both cars running the same configuration from FP3. Overall, we are happy with today and feel we can make more progress over the course of the weekend.
Pastor Maldonado: It wasn’t a bad day for us as our performance looked better than at previous events compared to the times posted today. We still need to work on the balance as the feeling is similar, but we will analyse the data and try to close the gap for tomorrow. The heat is going to be a big factor this weekend for all teams.
Valtteri Bottas: We did some good mechanical tests during the first practice session and we now need to look at the second session data to see how we can get more out of the car as the track improves and on the option tyre. The laptimes could have been better but I had some traffic. We still need to find a good balance with the car to try to improve for tomorrow.
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