Dave Robson, Senior Race Engineer: As usual, FP1 in Singapore was a little tricky and unrepresentative as the track was both hot and dusty. We spent our time getting both drivers up to speed with this demanding track and we also began to understand how the Option tyre compound will behave. We completed a couple of background checks which will help direct some of the development of the FW43 and were happy to complete the session to plan and with both drivers fairly happy with their cars.
FP2 is the most useful and representative of the practice sessions in Singapore and as a result all cars completed a lot of laps. The session was generally quite quiet, and we were able to continue our tyre work, using the Qualifying C5 compound at low fuel and then splitting the cars between Option and Prime for the majority of the high fuel running.
The car is performing reasonably well here, and we were quite close to both the Haas and Alfa Romeo cars in the evening session. There is a lot to do overnight but we will do everything necessary to give ourselves the best chance of a successful Q1 session tomorrow.
Robert Kubica: It was hot and tough, but we knew it would be like that before coming here. It is the toughest track and the conditions are challenging. As usual, it is never easy to find the feeling on Friday in Singapore. FP1 was not bad, but I didn’t get the same feeling in the car in FP2, so we will have to see what we changed and why the balance shifted so much. We will look at the data and move forward from there.
George Russell: I really enjoyed the practice sessions today. Singapore is a great place to drive, but definitely a difficult track where it is easy to make mistakes. I think we did a good job in FP2, the lap was really hooked up and the car was feeling relatively good. We have a solid baseline at the moment, but the lap times probably look a bit better than where our pace truly is. I want to go out and enjoy the challenge of driving in Singapore with the heat and humidity. If we can put it all together tomorrow, we may be rewarded.
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