FP1
Weather: Humid and wet
Air & Track Temperatures: 24-27°C / 27-31°C
F. Massa, FW40-04, Mercedes-AMG F1 M08 EQ Power+, 1: N/A
L. Stroll, FW40-03, Mercedes-AMG F1 M08 EQ Power+, 1:52.295 (8th)
Quickest time: M. Verstappen 1:48.962
FP2
Weather: Humid and dry
Air & Track Temperatures: 29-31°C / 39-44°C
F. Massa, FW40-04, Mercedes-AMG F1 M08 EQ Power+, 1:33.394 (12th)
L. Stroll, FW40-03, Mercedes-AMG F1 M08 EQ Power+, 1:33.818 (14th)
Quickest time: S. Vettel 1:31.261
Paddy Lowe, Chief Technical Officer: It was quite a mixed day, and unusually for Malaysia it was rainy this morning, which meant that the first practice session was all wet with us eventually running on the intermediate tyre with Lance. Unfortunately Felipe had a hydraulics problem so he didn’t get much track time, but we got some good feedback from Lance and showed reasonable pace in the wet. This afternoon’s session was dry so we chose to run two sets of supersofts with both cars. The pace was reasonable on low fuel and the drivers were relatively happy with the car. On high fuel runs, Felipe only managed a few laps and Lance had only just started before the session was red flagged. We need to do some more work this evening and see where we can position ourselves ready for qualifying tomorrow.
Felipe Massa: It wasn’t a great session this morning in the wet because of a hydraulic issue with the car. And then this afternoon we didn’t get a lot of track time either because I did two runs, but as I was starting my long run the session was red flagged. I’m glad that Grosjean wasn’t harmed in the incident; I was right behind him so saw it happen. It’s difficult to say where we are at the moment because we lost a lot of laps today. There are so many teams fighting within a small window so we’ll have to see how we go tomorrow.
Lance Stroll: The track has a great flow to it. I really enjoy driving here and the car feels like it comes alive under you. It was a lot of fun to drive in both the wet and dry. It was a good day and I felt pretty good in the wet this morning, but it is not perfect yet. The strong point from today was in the wet it was pretty promising, but the weak point was I locked up in the last corner on my best lap in FP2, which was looking like a good lap. What happens tomorrow will depend on the weather.
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