Fahrerstimmen – Tag 1

Heute war ein guter erster Tag im W11 für mich, aber es liegt definitiv noch Arbeit vor uns. Der neue Streckenverlauf ist ganz anders als der Kurs, den wir hier gewohnt sind, und es ist ehrlich gesagt keine einfache Strecke. Im Qualifying wird es extrem eng zugehen und wir dürfen wahrscheinlich ein dramatisches Rennen erwarten. Es war schön, heute mit dem Team zusammenzuarbeiten und ich lerne mit jeder Runde im Auto mehr dazu. Ich glaube, dass meine Rundenzeiten derzeit etwas täuschen und nicht die wahre Pace darstellen. Im zweiten Training hatte ich mit viel Benzin an Bord etwas zu kämpfen und das wird am Sonntag entscheidend sein. Red Bull war auf den Long Runs schnell und Valtteri war der Schnellste im zweiten Training, aber seine Rundenzeit wurde gestrichen. Es wird eng und wir werden heute Abend unsere Köpfe zusammenstecken. Es gibt noch viel zu tun, damit ich mich im Auto und mit dem Setup wohler fühle. Aber es war ein ermutigender erster Tag und ich freue mich darauf, morgen wieder im W11 Platz zu nehmen.

“It was tricky out there and balance wise we haven’t quite found the optimum set-up, especially on the short runs. The long runs were definitely an improvement and looked quite good this evening but even there we can do better. The track is not the most exciting to drive and because it is such a short lap the radio is constantly open with traffic warnings about other cars. The second sector it is quite blind for a lot of corners and it isn’t going to be easy when we need to cool the tyres before doing a second push lap and I think it could actually be quite dangerous. We never know exactly where we are on a Friday but Valtteri’s lap was cancelled so it looks like we are a couple of tenths off Mercedes. We have a bit of work to do before qualifying and then we will focus on the race pace to ensure we are competitive as following closely behind other cars will be a challenge around here.”

“I’m optimistic about our chances this weekend after a positive day on track. I think we can aim for a strong result, but today has really shown just how close qualifying is going to be. The margins will be tight and that means putting everything together over a single lap is going to be crucial. It was a challenge taking on the new layout today: the middle sector is particularly tricky because the kerbs are quite aggressive. It’s tempting to use them but it’s so easy to make a mistake if you misjudge it. I think we’ll see plenty of lap times deleted and see some errors over the weekend, so it’s important to minimise the chances of making a mistake. The whole lap is a challenge too, even though there’s not many corners overall – so getting the middle sector right is very important.”

“It was a good day for us and probably the best Friday of the season on our side of the garage. We had good performance in FP1, and we found a bit more in FP2 where we made a step and we’re pleased with that. The long runs in FP2 were decent and I had some battles with some other cars, so that was fun. It’s promising for tomorrow when we need to put everything together and make it happen. The new track is very technical and very different to last week. We’re on lower downforce and we’re arriving quicker into the corners, but I think we’ve adapted quite quickly to it.”

“I’m enjoying this new track as it’s very unique and some parts are quite challenging which makes it fun to get on top of. It was interesting out there today and there will be a lot to look at tonight in terms of what went well and what didn’t. It felt as though we had more grip in the first session than compared with FP2 so we’ll also have to look at that but overall the race pace looked pretty good which is positive but it’s still early days. Finding a gap in qualifying tomorrow isn’t going to be easy and because you have to drive so slowly to cool these tyres down the closing speeds are huge, so we’ll have to be on our toes and I expect our engineers are going to be busy. As drivers we all have respect for each other in terms of getting out of the way but at the same time we all want our tyres to be in the best possible window for our own laps so I’m sure it will be a talking point in the drivers briefing later this evening.”

“It was quite a standard Friday, we managed to complete all of our programme for today and worked through it pretty well. It was a new track to learn but I think we were quite OK out there. Hopefully, we will be able to understand a few more things tonight to see how we can improve tomorrow. It’s extremely tight between the teams, so it’s going to be important to get on top of everything without making any mistakes. It’s a shorter track with new corners, which is always something I enjoy learning, and a different challenge that makes it very interesting.”

“It was really close out there today with small gaps between all the cars. I think we learned a lot about how the weekend will develop and how the race will play out. Turn 8 is going to be a big factor tomorrow and we’ll probably see a lot of lap times deleted, so the key will be staying close to the limit. We managed the challenge of having a lot of traffic on such a short lap well today, but I expect that’s going to be even more tricky in qualifying when everyone is searching for free air. Qualifying will be very important tomorrow because it was more difficult to overtake than we expected. It could end up being a track position race. All things considered, it was a good day’s work and I’m confident in the car for Saturday and Sunday.”

“It’s been a good Friday for us. The track is obviously very short, but I quite like it, and I’d say that the new section in the middle is my favourite bit. We’ve done quite a few laps here now so it’s nice to have something a little different. The afternoon session was strong and then we experimented a little bit in the evening. Esteban’s pace looks good as well, so I think we’ll be set for a good qualifying tomorrow. I’m looking forward to it and we have to make sure we’re on it tomorrow to underline today’s pace.”

“It was a decent Friday. I think we have a pretty competitive car and we tried different setups which gave us a good idea of which direction to go for tomorrow. FP2 was a bit scrappy on my run on Options, so I think we have a bit more performance to come. However, the long runs look competitive, so it will just be a matter of fine-tuning and work on final details tonight to make sure we can start in a good position on Sunday and have a strong car for the race.”

“To be honest I’m a bit surprised with the pace today. It’s only been five days, but the pecking order has changed and we’re not looking as strong as last weekend. Also, it hasn’t been the cleanest of Fridays with both of our cars having some sort of issue. Having said that, it’s only Friday and we still have the night to figure out how we can come back stronger and recover a bit the performance that it seems we’ve lost. We’re on it.”

Heute war kein einfacher Tag für mich. Ich bin auf meinem ersten Versuch im ersten Training in Kurve 8 über die Kerbs gefahren und habe dabei einen großen Abschnitt am Unterboden beschädigt. Damit war das Training für mich quasi gelaufen und brachte mir nicht mehr viel. Im zweiten Training fühlte es sich gut an, aber ich konnte keine Runde auf den Soft-Reifen fahren, da meine einzige halbwegs ordentliche Rundenzeit wegen Track Limits gestrichen wurde. Es war also nicht unbedingt mein bester Tag, aber die Long Runs waren konstant. Red Bull schien auf den Long Runs konkurrenzfähig zu sein, besonders auf den Medium-Reifen, und George ist ebenfalls gute Runden gefahren. Ich muss noch an ein paar Dingen arbeiten, um bis zum Qualifying alles zusammenzubekommen. Der neue Streckenabschnitt ist technisch sehr anspruchsvoll und auch sehr wellig. Er ist eine ziemliche Herausforderung und man kann dort schnell ein Zehntel verlieren. Auf so einer kurzen Strecke kann das im Qualifying entscheidend sein. Mit so vielen Autos auf der Strecke wird das richtig heftig. Deshalb wird es wichtig sein, eine saubere Runde zu fahren und auf die Abstände zu achten.

“I didn’t have any particular expectations about this track before the weekend, but the important thing was to have two clean sessions and do our job with the car. The track itself is relatively simple, it has just two big corners although it is quite bumpy. Our approach to the weekend didn’t change, we will prepare for tomorrow’s qualifying in the usual way: hopefully we can make another step forward tonight and be competitive in the afternoon.”

“I am pretty happy with the pace we showed today, especially in the longer runs. Tomorrow should be an interesting challenge, finding space will be important but we know everyone will also be looking for a tow. We will need to be smart and play our cards right. We know we are fighting to be in Q2 and we are confident we have a chance to be there, so let’s see what we can get tomorrow.”

“Well, it’s certainly a very short track with a lot of traffic – it’s very narrow as well, very bumpy. It’s certainly a challenge. Unfortunately, we’re not fast enough, either on the normal track or this new one. We’ve also got to work on the balance of the car, it’s not just the straights where we’re slow – we have to work on the corners. We’ve got to try and manage all that. I think Pietro (Fittipaldi) has done really well today. It’s a big ask to be thrown into a car just a couple of days before a race weekend with no testing. I think he’s gotten up to speed really well. Hopefully he’s enjoying it.”

It was a different kind of day, and a different kind of track to what we are used to. It was pretty hectic out there, 20 cars sharing this short track made it difficult to focus on your own programme, get clean laps in and try to not disturb anyone else. We have some work to do on both low and high fuel, but we are thereabouts with our competitors Haas and Alfa, which is always the target. The new section is very bumpy, it will create something different for sure which I think is what F1 wanted to achieve. I hope it makes it exciting and brings opportunities that we are all hoping for. It has definitely created a challenge to set up the car, so we will try and nail that down tomorrow.

“We have had a mixed day: the first session was ok, the second was horrible. We tried some setting changes on the car, but the result was a very aggressive car, which is not what we needed. I hope tomorrow we can close the gap and get back on the right track. This track configuration is maybe a bit too short, almost over before it begins, but it’s ok. Turn 4 is more or less as it was last week, a bit faster because it opens up, then it is bumpy between turn 7 and 8 where the kerbs are very aggressive. This part is quite tricky but it’s not bad. With 20 cars on track, Q1 will be very tight especially because of the traffic: we have to go very slowly on the cool-down laps to bring the tyre temperatures down and this complicates things. I hope all the drivers will manage to get a clean lap without being impeded, or having too much trouble with traffic. It will be very tight and a few hundredths will make the difference.”

“Today wasn’t a good day for us. We’re quite off the pace so we’ve got quite a bit of work to do going into tomorrow. From my side, it was quite a messy day with one mistake that I made which meant a floor change, and then an issue with the engine that put us out for the rest of the session. So, not the best of days – looking like one of our tougher days in terms of pace. When we needed the laps, we didn’t get them, so we’re in quite a tricky position going into tomorrow, but we’ll work hard overnight and see if we can make some improvements to the car.”

“It’s been both fantastic and exciting today. It’s been a year since I’ve driven a Formula 1 car, eight months since I’ve driven anything on track. I took the day step-by-step, I just kept my focus and kept calm. I was really happy with the day. The team have helped me with everything, the engineers did a great job talking me through things, and the mechanics have done a great job as well. The only set-back was in FP1, we had a lock-up that damaged my tires, I couldn’t do any further running. I kept my cool and we just went into FP2 and got through our run plan. Tomorrow I’ll make another step, slowly turn up the volume, and push when it comes to qualifying then the race.”

Today was pretty cool and I got lots of laps under my belt. We spent the first few laps in FP1 refreshing what I did during FP1 in Austria, so it was all pretty familiar, and I got up to speed quickly. There is some work to be done on our one lap pace, but the race form was encouraging so I am pretty happy. We built some solid foundations today, so I am looking forward to getting into qualifying. It will be tough tomorrow in qualifying; keeping your wits about you and being aware and hopefully we can be on the right side of things.

“It was better than expected today. Things were going well until the technical problem at the very beginning of FP2, so hopefully it will be a good day tomorrow. I enjoyed the track with very few corners as it reminds me of the karting days. It’s a nice track and it should be a fun race. With these long straights, whoever is behind will have a big advantage. Finding a gap tomorrow in qualifying will be my main concern. Especially in Q1 and Q2, which could be messy, I think. The car felt good at the beginning of FP2 so I feel confident we are in a good place, but we still need to see the lap times to confirm this.”