Fahrerstimmen – Tag 1

“Today it’s been a mixed day”, Seb commented “as the morning session didn’t go smoothly, but in the afternoon it got better. The balance of the car is not perfect yet, but I believe we can work on it for tomorrow as the car seems to be working well. This morning we had a little problem with the car; I wanted to run, but we had to check the gearbox first. However, it was good we could run in the afternoon. In P2 I slid off at Parabolica, but I managed to avoid touching the barrier, but I had just one slight nudge and came away with minor damage to the rear wing which had to be replaced. Apart from that, the car was fine. I am not entirely happy yet, but I know we can still improve because our car has big potential. I think we can do better tomorrow as the package is good, so we’ll see. We’ll keep doing our homework”.

“This morning” Kimi said “the session was held in the wet and we could only do a little running, but in the second practice, track conditions were back to normal. The conditions were the same for everybody, we cannot change the weather; I think that in the end we were quite lucky to have at least one session in the dry. Both compounds were ok, but obviously we did not do much mileage today. We are on yet another different track, so we obviously had some things to fine tune today, but it was not too bad for the first laps . Now we need to go through things and try to improve a bit for tomorrow”.

Als wir heute Morgen aufgewacht sind, goss es wie aus Kübeln. Dadurch war im ersten Training weniger los als normalerweise. Wir sind einige Runden gefahren, aber danach war es wie ein Tag im Büro ohne viel Arbeit. Einmal bin ich sogar etwas im Auto eingedöst! Dafür sind wir aber am Nachmittag jede Menge Runden im Trockenen gefahren und konnten sehen, dass wir wie zuletzt in Spa sowohl auf den kürzeren als auch den längeren Runs einen kleinen Abstand zu Ferrari hatten. Meine Runden fühlten sich ziemlich gut an, aber Ferrari war heute ein bisschen schneller. Jetzt arbeiten wir mit Volldampf daran und es liegt auch heute Abend noch Arbeit vor uns. Wir haben in einigen Bereichen Defizite erkannt, bei denen wir hoffentlich bis zum Qualifying kleine Fortschritte erzielen können. Wir erleben nun schon seit einigen Rennen ein hartes Duell und sie hatten seit Mitte des Jahres einen kleinen Vorteil. Aber wir geben weiterhin alles, was wir haben, um das aufzuholen. Obwohl wir uns hier im Ferrari-Land befinden, genießen auch wir hier großartige Unterstützung und es treibt uns immer an, die Fans auf den Rängen zu sehen. Morgen erwartet uns wie an jedem Wochenende erneut ein sehr enger Kampf und wir werden unser Bestes geben.

Die Bedingungen waren heute gemischt mit starkem Regen am Vormittag und einem trockenen Nachmittag. Am Vormittag sind wir nur einen Run auf den Intermediates gefahren. Monza ist im Nassen eine knifflige Strecke, weil es schwierig ist, die richtigen Bremspunkte zu finden. Dabei schienen wir im Nassen mit den Autos konkurrenzfähig zu sein, die gleichzeitig mit uns auf der Strecke waren. Zum Glück war es am Nachmittag trocken. So konnten wir einige normale Runden abspulen. Die Long Runs waren besonders wichtig, da es im Rennen trocken sein soll. Ferrari schien im Trockenen wie erwartet sehr schnell zu sein. Es wird nicht einfach, aber es gibt noch ein paar Dinge, die wir bis zum Qualifying verbessern können. Im Vergleich zu Spa fühlte sich das Auto in den langsameren Kurven besser an - das ist ein guter Schritt in die richtige Richtung. Die Wettervorhersage für morgen ist nicht ganz schlüssig. Deshalb müssen wir uns auf alles einstellen und im dritten Training so viel fahren wie möglich - egal, ob es nass oder trocken ist.

“It was alright today, the same conditions for everyone. Luckily we had a dry second practice where we could try a few things. In Qualifying with dry conditions, I think we are too slow, but on the long runs it looks more positive. If it’s going to be enough to really fight, I don’t think so. From the car perspective the behaviour was good so of course I’m happy with that. But this is definitely the worst track for us, I don’t expect any miracles and we will try to make the best of it. I don’t think it’s necessary to go with a different tyre strategy tomorrow as both compounds behaved really well. I don’t expect any problems there and we will just have to try to have the best Qualifying possible. I don’t know yet whether we will use the C-Spec engine tomorrow, we will decide that overnight when we have looked at the data. We just have to keep pushing and try to improve our car and then we will see where we are.”

“We looked more competitive on the long runs this afternoon but on the short runs Ferrari were really fast and we also still have a big gap to Mercedes. We definitely closed the gap on the long runs which is promising for the race, but there is still a bit to find. I used the new C-Spec engine for the first time which seemed to run ok. We won’t really know how well it performed until we look at the data but this afternoon we did some decent running with it and hopefully it shows some good numbers. Tomorrow I probably won’t do much running and it’s possible I will skip Qualifying as I’m going to be starting at the back anyway. I think on Sunday we will have a good enough car to come through the field and then work on the best position in the top five. To be honest, it’s just good to see that Marcus is ok because that was a big one and a worry for us all. He had a far tougher day than me.”

“It’s been a pretty solid day with good preparation for the weekend. Seventh and eighth in the second session shows we have strong dry pace, as well as in the wet, and I feel optimistic for tomorrow. The car has been quick all day, but there are some areas where we can improve and I think there is more to come. The second session was shorter than usual because of the red flag, but it’s the same for everybody and I think we are as well prepared as anybody.”

“It was a good day and I am fairly confident about our performance level. Friday times don’t mean much but it’s still nice to finish the morning session as the fastest driver. In the afternoon we worked on our race set-up and we found a very good baseline. I am definitely looking forward to qualifying because we have a good chance to be the best of the rest no matter what the weather does. We were able to run on all compounds and in all conditions, so we are well prepared.”

“Der Tag war in Ordnung. Einerseits hatten wir Schwierigkeiten – andererseits war unsere Performance recht gut, wenn man Bedenkt was für Herausforderungen der Tag mit sich gebracht hat. Wir haben nun einiges an Arbeit vor uns, und werden alles tun, um bis morgen die notwendigen Schritte nach vorne zu tätigen. Das Wichtigste ist, dass es Marcus nach seinem Unfall gut geht. Morgen streben wir gute Resultate an.“

“This morning we ran a little to get some data on both wet and intermediate tyres, but it was pretty standard feedback; not much to report. When it dried in the afternoon we got the chance to test out some new aero parts, which seemed to work well. Of course, we need to look through the data to get the most from the car for tomorrow, but it was a good start for now.”

“It’s been a fairly good day. It was wet in the morning, dry in the afternoon. I was quite pleased with how the car went in the afternoon, on both low fuel and high fuel. That was good. The team did a good job setting up the car before we got here. We did a few bits and pieces adjusting the setup but, really, the car felt good. With a wet morning and the red flag in FP2 – where I was glad to see Marcus (Ericsson) walk out of the car after a big shunt – we ran our program as we could. We lost a bit of track time, but we’ve managed to do everything we wanted.”

“In the morning it was obviously very wet, but it was good to get some laps in these conditions. The car was behaving well, as it did in the wet in Hungary. In the dry we completed the whole programme. It was a good day and now we need to look through everything to see where we can find some more time. We have tried some new parts across both cars and tomorrow we will put it all together and try to push for the top 10.”

“It wasn’t too bad. FP1 was obviously wet, but we still got some running in those conditions, which was good to get a feeling of that. It looks like it’s going to be dry tomorrow, at least that’s what the weather forecast looks like. In FP2 we got a bit of dry running to prepare for that. The car felt ok. I think there’s some work to do for low-fuel running, but the high fuel looked ok. So, we’ve got some setup work to do, as always, and we’ve got to look at getting the tires to work properly, and getting the balance right in the car. It’s all normal stuff, nothing spectacular. We should be ok.”

"Today was a busy day. Between the rain this morning and the afternoon being dry, we could analyse the car in both conditions. We had a positive start to the day during the rain, and this afternoon we did some good work in the long runs. Overall, we need to work and try to find more performance as the car didn't feel too great, I think there's room to improve for tomorrow. Hopefully there will be some rain for us which will level the playing field and make things more exciting."

I think it’s been a very good Friday. We had good pace in the wet, but it’s difficult to say how we’ll be tomorrow as we don’t know what the weather will be like. Today’s shown good signs of performance. The conditions have favoured us as they haven’t been hot. I had some issues throughout my lap which we need to understand and see if we can fix or not. They cost me quite a lot of time on my best lap. Had it not been for that, I think we wouldn’t have been far from the top ten which is a good sign. It’s a good weekend.

"It was a positive Friday in Monza, I was P4 this morning in the wet and momentarily held P1 which was nice! The car performed very well in the intermediate conditions this morning, but we had a small issue with our car in FP2 which meant we sat in the garage for a long time due to some problems on the bodywork. We missed out on some running time, but I would still say it was a good day and we're in the mix."

It looks better compared to the others, but we will see what tomorrow brings. We look a bit better now, but on Friday it is hard to know what people are doing with modes, fuel levels and that, so we will have a better idea tomorrow. We had some good running and this morning it was fun to get out in the rain for a few laps. It was short, as it was only three laps, but still it brought back some good memories from last year. I like this sort of track, as it is always fun to brake at 330 kph and get that last metre out of the braking zone. It is very challenging as you have to really build up to it and have the confidence to hit the pedal late and modulate off the pressure at the perfect time. Around Monza, we also see some nice overtaking moves, which provides a bit of a chance to gain positions in the race which is great.

“It was a strange day today, with the rain in the first session and Marcus’ (Ericsson) accident in the second – thank God he’s okay – so, like everyone else, we lost some track time. We missed a couple of runs that we had programmed, including some long runs, so we will try to make up for this tomorrow and get that information. “I think we more or less confirmed today that it’s going to be a tough weekend for us as a team in terms of performance, and we’ll try to do a better job tomorrow. “After Sunday’s accident, I still sometimes feel some pain in my hand and my back in some corners, so when I’m out of the car I try not to stress them too much. I think on Sunday it’s going to be perfectly okay. “Last, but not least, a big well done to the FIA, who have done an amazing job over the years to improve safety.”

“Even though I didn’t do FP1 I don’t think I missed a huge amount with the weather conditions. FP2 was dry and a much more normal session than the morning apart from Marcus’ (Ericsson) crash at the start. “I don’t think there will be any miracles for us here this weekend, we’ve expected it to be difficult and I think practice has already confirmed that it’s going to be tough for us. We’ll see what we can do tomorrow. “I like this track, I have some good history here in different series that I’ve raced in before, so I usually enjoy coming here and racing.”

“I had some fun today of course, although I didn’t get as much running as I would have liked. That happens sometimes and in the end, I was happy anyway. I saw what to experience on a race weekend and again what it’s like to compare to Fernando, which is something pretty good for me. “It would have been nice to get a dry track – or for it to be completely wet for longer, to get used to driving this car in the wet, which I enjoy quite a bit. “It was still a good session for us, although there weren’t many laps completed. We did some aero tests – some for his year, some for next. We tried as many things as we could without compromising anything for this weekend. “The team learned quite a bit of stuff today, and of course I learned a lot too.”

“Der Unfall, den ich in FP2 hatte, war recht gross – dank der Kraft des Autos, geht es mir allerdings gut. Das Team arbeitet nun daran, das Auto für morgen zu reparieren. Ich freue mich darauf wieder zu fahren.”