Fahrerstimmen – Tag 1

Heute war es ziemlich kalt, aber zumindest kam die Sonne heraus. Das erste Training war interessant, da wir die Reifen für die Saison 2020 getestet haben. Die zweite Session war eher ein normales Training, das relativ rund verlaufen ist. Die Strecke ist in diesem Jahr sehr wellig. Solche Bodenwellen können einem Kurs einen echten Charakter verleihen. Ich bin kein Fan von komplett glatten Strecken, aber hier sind die Bodenwellen einfach enorm. Für uns Fahrer ist das ein Problem, weil wir nicht wirklich viel Aufhängungsspiel haben. Sie bewegt sich nicht sehr viel, deshalb fühlt es sich so an, als ob man direkt auf dem Boden sitzen würde und deine Wirbelsäule wird ganz schön gestaucht. Die Bodenwellen fühlten sich im ersten Training richtig schlimm an, aber wir konnten bis zum Nachmittag ein paar Änderungen vornehmen, um es etwas besser zu gestalten. Ich freue mich auf das Rennwochenende. Ich liebe diese Strecke und das Auto fühlte sich heute ordentlich an. Es liegt aber noch viel Arbeit vor uns, weshalb wir heute Abend die Daten sichten werden, um morgen hoffentlich stark zu sein.

“Overall, I think it was a positive day. Despite the setback I had in FP1, where my fastest lap was deleted and I had an issue with the throttle, the car felt good, especially in the qualifying runs. The track was bumpy, something that is a bit unusual in Formula 1, but we will adapt to it over the weekend. We still have some work to do to improve our race pace and our competitors have turned out to be quite strong in that department today, so we will see where we stand tomorrow and take it from there.”

“Overall it’s been a positive day and the pace of the car on the short runs seems pretty good. Lewis had a tow down the back straight on his fastest lap so I think the time isn’t really representative and the gap is probably a bit smaller than it looks. We were a little bit off on the long runs and I’m not entirely happy yet but that’s something we can look at tonight. The track seems to be getting bumpier every year but luckily the bumps aren’t really in braking areas but it’s something that probably needs looking at before next year. I don’t mind bumps on a street circuit but some of these are quite severe and more like a jump so the wheels actually come off the ground. This track is also very aggressive on tyres so if we can keep them under control then it could be pretty good.”

“It is always good fun here in Austin. The track is not in the best shape because of its bumps. But it is what it is and that makes it a bit special and more tricky for us. But I don’t think they can do anything to fix it now. The car was good to start with, which is positive, but then we tried some things that did not seem to work so well. But we understand what we need to do so, hopefully for tomorrow we can improve in terms of our one lap pace. But I think that in race trim we have a bit more to do. We know our strengths and weaknesses and in quali trim, we can mask the weaknesses a bit, whereas that is harder for us to do in race configuration. All the same, I’m quite confident we can improve the car. We will focus on that and see what we can achieve.”

Am Vormittag drehte sich alles um Entwicklungsarbeiten für das nächste Jahr. Entsprechend spielten die Rundenzeiten keine Rolle. Stattdessen konzentrierten wir uns darauf, Daten mit den neuen Reifen zu sammeln. Das war sehr interessant und wir konnten unser Programm absolvieren, ohne zu viel über die Rundenzeiten nachzudenken. Heute Morgen war es sehr kalt und während es im Auto immer noch sehr warm ist und man ins Schwitzen kommt, erschweren die kühlen Streckentemperaturen das Aufwärmen der Reifen. In bestimmten Bereichen war die Strecke auch sehr wellig, besonders in den Kurven 5 und 6 - einer schnellen Passage. Wenn dort das Heck des Autos wegen der Bodenwellen nicht stabil genug ist, kann das ganz schön hart sein. Das Anbremsen der ersten Kurve ist auf einer unebenen Strecke ebenfalls nicht einfach, da man dann sehr präzise mit dem Bremspedal umgehen muss. Zwischen den Spitzenteams scheint es sehr eng zuzugehen, ich selbst hatte allerdings in der zweiten Session etwas zu kämpfen. Ich habe Zeit auf den Geraden verloren und das Auto fühlte sich nicht ganz richtig an. Das werden wir uns heute Abend genauer ansehen.

“I’m enjoying my first time around this track and it’s been really good fun so far. It’s quite technical and there’s a lot of track to use so you need to know where to put your car and which lines to take. There’s a lot of bumps out there but I think they look worse on TV than how they feel out on track, but our car is pretty good over them anyway. The cars do move around a bit over the bumps so it’s just about knowing how much you can get away with. The first session was pretty good and then the second one was ok but I know which direction I want to go in. My best time got deleted for track limits. My other lap was ok but I made a few mistakes so there’s room for improvement on my side in terms of driving and also getting the most out of the tyres. I think it’s mainly sector one and the low speed I need to focus on but after your first day at a new track, having things to work on is nothing unusual.”

“We had a very good day of practice finishing P4 and P7 in the two sessions. I have a really good feeling with the car and I’m happy with the setup direction we took between FP1 and FP2. We managed to get the car where I wanted it to be so I’m satisfied with that. Tomorrow will be slightly different conditions, so we need to make sure we can achieve similar performance by anticipating all of these changes to get the car in a similar position for the next two days. I really enjoy driving on this track as it’s quite particular; it has fast, high-speed corners which is what I like in a circuit.”

“It’s been a bit of a different Friday, having next season’s tyre compounds available. Unfortunately, my first impression of these tyres wasn’t very positive. I felt we were probably struggling a bit more this weekend to find the right balance in the car. “It took us a few more runs to find a better compromise, but by the end of the day, we more or less managed to find a decent baseline. However, this weekend looks extremely tight and I expect a tense fight to get into the top 10. It looks challenging but we’ll make sure we work hard to maximise our options.”

“It was a very solid day and I got into a rhythm early on. The balance of the car was good on both the short and long runs, so we will see what tomorrow brings. It’s a track where you can get quite creative: it’s very wide so there are multiple lines you can take, particularly in the middle sector. A corner like Turn 15 allows you to dive in early or take a wider line on entry. It depends on the car and of course the driver’s preference, and I think it makes it quite exciting because of that. “It’s generally quite a bumpy track and there are two or three big bumps that are really upsetting the car, but it’s something we all have to deal with. It’s not good for the engine either with big spikes in revs. It’s almost like there are speed bumps out there! I don’t think there is a quick fix solution this year, but hopefully they will improve things for next year. It was good to try out the new spec-tyres but it’s too early to make any conclusions and we need to get some more data on them.”

„Wir beenden den Tag mit der zehntbesten Zeit, und das ist gar nicht so schlecht. Die Runden, die wir auf weichen Reifen fuhren, waren okay, und das stimmt mich zuversichtlich, dass wir konkurrenzfähig sein können. Ich bin erstmals hier, weshalb ich einige Runden brauchte, um die Rennstrecke zu verstehen: Der Belag ist sehr ausgesprochen uneben, was eine zusätzliche Herausforderung darstellt. Aber ich fand schnell einen Rhythmus. Am heutigen Abend haben wir noch einiges zu tun, um sicherzustellen, das Auto zu haben, das wir im Qualifying benötigen. Doch mit der heute geleisteten Arbeit können wir zufrieden sein. Ich freue mich auf morgen.“

“The morning session was pretty smooth but, in the afternoon, it seemed like others found a bit of pace. We’re not far off and I’m sure we can find a bit more. We’ll go through it all to find out which areas we can improve, but I think it’ll be small things. It’s good to be back driving here; it’s a great track, although it’s very cold! Clearly, people were talking about the bumps today but it is what it is. I prefer it like this, rather than it being completely smooth; it all adds to the enjoyment factor and the challenge.”

“It was a normal Friday where we completed our programme and managed to do the laps we wanted. There’s a couple of corners where I can improve and then things should be fine.”

“Our long runs certainly felt good, however, on low fuel, it was difficult to get in a rhythm. Hopefully we can find a balance there but, overall, the baseline isn’t too bad. The midfield looks quick and tight again, so it’ll be about extracting everything and being at the top end of that. The track is pretty bumpy, but that seems to happen year on year here. It gives it some character and makes it interesting in places. It’s part of the challenge in Austin and we have to cope with it.”

“A tricky day with all the bumps which are worse than last year, making it easy to snatch a front wheel and have a small lock-up. But after today, we have a direction to push in for tomorrow. “We’re there or thereabouts on pace, but it’s very close. So, it’s going to be more about putting the lap together and seeing how we get on, but we’ve got a bit of work to do.”

“The track conditions today were extremely poor and there were quite a few people having problems with the bumps. I struggled with the balance of the car so I need to try and improve that for tomorrow. Lance was a lot stronger - not just over one lap, but also in the long runs - so hopefully I can pick it up tomorrow and be in contention for Q3. It’s most important to improve my race pace because that’s where the points are awarded.”

„Das war kein schlechter Start für unser Wochenende. Die Kälte war nicht so schlimm wie während der vergangenen Tage, und letztlich war es ja für alle gleich. Insgesamt haben wir nach den beiden ersten Trainingssitzungen ein besseres Gefühl. Es stimmt, die Rundenzeit entspricht nicht unserem Wunsch, aber die wahre Standortbestimmung folgt ja erst morgen.“

“FP1 was decent. We knew we had a big program of test stuff in FP2, so we tried to go straight into FP1 – we didn’t do an install lap, we didn’t do a turnaround, we just got straight into running. We wanted to get some car balance info from FP1. Then in FP2 we did all this aero testing, it was to get correlation, and obviously to try and understand a little more about the aero. So, we’re not concerned about the times, we saw how FP1 went, we didn’t go low fuel and stuff like that. That’s more representative of our pace, we’re probably just outside the top ten. It would be nice to find more, and actually be in the top ten, it’s very tight so we’ll just have to try and nail it tomorrow.”

“FP1 felt good. The car felt like it had a lot of grip, maybe that’s because I drove the NASCAR yesterday, and then jumped back in a Formula One car and thought, oh okay, I’ve got some grip now. It was a good session, I was happy with that. We made some changes for FP2 and with hindsight they were maybe a little less good. It’s tough out there, there are a lot of bumps, but it’s pretty cool also. We’ll take the positives from FP1. We obviously haven’t had the chance to do a race sim, but we’ll take whatever Kevin (Magnussen) has done and just apply it to our car.”

I really enjoyed driving this circuit, it has a nice flow to it and felt very fast, although our pace was as the team predicted. Track conditions were bumpy but didn’t compromise the lap too much. It wasn’t ideal, but it added more character to the circuit and I’m looking forward to getting back out there over the weekend. On a side note, good luck to the England players in the Rugby World Cup final.

The conditions were tricky out there today, it was cool and very bumpy, so I wasn’t taking any risks. Unfortunately, I only had two push laps because of a gearbox issue. It is an amazing track to drive, even with the little laps that I did. All in all, it was very enjoyable.

The conditions were quite extreme; the bumps are more like drops in the elevation rather than big impacts into the chassis. We focused a lot on next year’s Pirelli tyre constructions evaluating drivability and aero impacts. It was my first time at COTA and driving a Formula One car here is a great feeling. It’s one of the best new generation tracks on the Grand Prix calendar.