Fahrerstimmen – Tag 1

It was a tricky day. We only completed two laps on the short run and not many overall, but the feeling in the car was pretty good so far. The fight is on with Mercedes and they look competitive, so it won’t be easy. We will do everything we can to qualify in front of them tomorrow.

P2 in my second FP1 session of the year feels good! I really enjoyed it out there. The start of the session was primarily focused on some aerodynamic testing and so I had a rake attached to the car. That meant putting in some steady and consistent laps to make sure we were collecting the data we need to optimise the set-up for the upcoming sessions. After that, I was given some soft tyres and allowed to push, which is always the best bit. The car felt quick – we’ve made progress since Monza – and I think we’re starting the weekend off in a good place. 
Now I’m looking forward to supporting the team this weekend and then getting back out on track on Tuesday for the end-of-season young driver test. Having a full day of running is always beneficial to get into a good rhythm and to find the limits of the car.

It was a messy day on track with the Red and Yellow Flags, but I think we made the most of the time we had today. We got some good laps in. I got comfortable quickly in FP2, which I was happy with. Obviously, I didn’t get a high-fuel or consistent running in my session, so maybe I’m a little bit behind on some areas but we can look at those in the data tonight. Overall, I’m confident I can find it for a positive session in qualifying.

We had limited track time in FP2 so we weren't able to learn as much as we wanted to. I didn't expect the balance to be so far off, there was a lot of understeer and jumping. There's a lot to figure out in tomorrow's practice session. Of course, we're still P3 so it's not too bad, I just think balance wise it could be much better. We need to make some big improvements to be good in qualifying tomorrow.

It is definitely quite nice to finish both sessions in P4, although it’s quite difficult to say where we really stand at the end of today. We had a couple of unusual sessions today: the first one featuring several rookie drivers, and the second one affected by two red flags in a row – therefore not allowing everyone to get good laps in. Still, we went through the full programme for the day, and the feeling in the car is pretty good, which is promising for the days ahead. Of course, there is still a long way to go, and we need to be at our best for Qualifying and for Sunday’s race as well. Our target for Saturday remains Q3, and if we do our homework right overnight, we have a solid chance of achieving that tomorrow.

We had to do some tweaks to the car towards the start of the session, I was struggling a bit with some front end initially. Due to the red flags, we hardly got any running, especially on the medium and then on my soft run I had traffic with people doing high fuel runs towards the end of the session. It wasn’t a very straightforward day, obviously I didn’t run in FP1 so you lose that and it means we have to be very careful on what route we take with set-up. I think we have some good potential in the car though, we just have to do some tweaks here and there, then we should be in a good place for tomorrow.

That was a relatively positive Friday for us. There were a lot of rookie drivers out there on track in FP1, so we didn’t get a completely clear gauge of where our relative pace was. Fred did a good job for the team though, and we got a lot of useful data to look over. FP2 was clearly an interrupted session so again, we couldn’t get a read on where we were stacking up against our competitors or a true picture of where our pace may be. Nevertheless, we have a lot to review overnight and that will hopefully put us in a good place to finish the last race of the season on a high. I’m excited going into tomorrow.

It’s been a good day, I am glad I was able to get up to speed right away, despite the red flags that disrupted FP2. We had good rhythm out of the box and I felt comfortable with the balance, so it was a smooth day for me. Effectively, we had 18 laps at full push, but the car felt in the right place and that’s the start of the weekend we needed. It’s good to see we were able to gain confidence right away, and that the upgrades we brought seem to be working well. It’s only Friday, but we are in the right window: still, we will need to improve tonight if we want to stay competitive, because everyone else will.

FP2 was a very frustrating session for me, and I suspect for all the drivers out there. We got very little running in the end, and a lack of consecutive laps too, which is what we most want to achieve on a Friday. On the laps we did do, the car felt OK. The grip felt good and there are a few things we will look at overnight to see what we can improve. It was a shame we didn’t get more running, but we will look to make up for that in FP3 tomorrow.

Quite a positive day on my side, as everything went smoothly and I’m generally very happy. We completed the programme we had planned and in terms of lap time I was close to Carlos who was my reference today. In terms of feeling, we had to manage the rear tyres quite a bit and the car was stiff in general, so it was a good challenge.
A big thanks to the team and everyone who gave me the opportunity to drive today. It’s always amazing to drive a Formula 1 car, especially a Ferrari. I’ll be back in the car on Tuesday for an entire day of testing and I’m really looking forward to it.

We started our Abu Dhabi weekend here at Yas Marina with an interesting day’s Practice where running was shortened due to the two red flags in Free Practice 2. Firstly, I’m glad Carlos [Sainz] is OK as it looked like a big impact. From our side, with the running we were able to do, we’ve had a fairly standard day in the car. I think we’re in a good position and now it’s important we take the time and do our work overnight to find some improvements ahead of Qualifying. I’m feeling comfortable and we will see what tomorrow brings.

It felt good out there, the car’s looking competitive which is a pleasing start to the weekend. There were a few mistakes to tidy-up but overall, I feel like we’re in a competitive place. We’ll work hard with the data and see what we can do tomorrow on track.

I didn't learn much from FP2. We were unlucky with the pair of red flags and there wasn't much action.
It's important to get some practice in and FP2 is the only practice session with conditions that represent Qualifying and the race, so we have some work to do, but it's the same for everybody.
We will try everything to end the season positively. Anything can happen, as we saw in the last two events. We will fight until the last lap and see what we can do.

I think it was a solid day. I definitely felt the positives from the upgrades immediately in FP1, and we could see the benefits from it. We made some changes for FP2, trying to exploit it and get the best all-round package. It was a slightly disrupted session, so we were a little compromised with our programme, but I'm sure others were too. Looking at us, I'm confident we can find even more performance, so I’m not too concerned about our positions in FP2. We did look like we had a decent pace on the medium tyres, so I think we’ll be a top-ten car if we get it right.

Taking part in my second FP1 was an incredible experience. I’ve been looking forward to it for a long time, especially as it was on a track that I know well. I was really pleased with how the session went and I was progressing well throughout the hour. I was much more confident with the car than in Mexico given the knowledge I had gained from that FP1. There are always things you can improve and there was more potential out there. I’m looking forward to getting back in the car on Tuesday for the test and carrying on that development. Once again, a big thank you to Toto and the team for giving me the opportunity and supporting me.

Despite the two red flags in FP2 we still had some good running today. I got a good feel for the car ahead of tomorrow and I'm pleased with the data we've collected today. Qualifying is important here, and the goal has to be to get into Q3. I'm looking forward to Sunday's race and we'll be pushing hard to end the season on a high.

The last Friday Practice day of the year has not started on the best terms. Unfortunately, I’ve been quite ill since Wednesday and was not feeling great coming into the paddock today. We had Jack [Doohan] in the car for Free Practice 1 where he tested various different items. He had a good session and then followed that up with pole position in Formula 2 just after so well done to him! Free Practice 2 was disrupted with two red flags and therefore a very limited number of laps. We did the best we could with our programme and I am already looking forward to having more laps in the bag tomorrow to be as ready as possible for the last Qualifying of the year. There is more to come from us.

Driving this car is always an incredible feeling, and I’m grateful to the team for the trust they put in me, and for the opportunity they gave me to contribute to our work today. I was really looking forward to driving, especially after missing out in Mexico, and I am pleased by the productive session we had. The track was quite green and there wasn’t much grip, but I felt better with every lap and I feel we had a good progression from Hard to Soft compounds. I am happy I was able to help the team in the session, and I’m looking forward to getting back in the car in the post-season test, especially to experience the difference in grip levels after the full race weekend.

After FP1 I was just wishing I could be in the car for FP2! It was a smooth session. We were able to work through our run plan and complete all the laps we intended. I think from my side, there’s still quite a lot of lap time to come from me, so I’m very excited to be back in the car on Tuesday for the test, where I hope to get to know the car better and keep on improving. Until then, I’ll be trying to help the team have a good Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend.

Overall, today was a positive day. We collected a lot of data about the upgrades we brought here and learnt a lot of things. I feel a clear difference and we’ve definitely made a positive step in performance. There are still a couple of things to do and finetune to put it all together, but I already noticed the steps we made between FP1 and FP2. This will hopefully let us fight in Q3 tomorrow, and I think it’s possible. We’ll use this opportunity and maximise it.

I feel a little bit on the backfoot this weekend but I’m obviously not alone in that, with a group of drivers all in the same situation after sitting out of FP1 and the disrupted FP2 session. Realistically, the long run pace is okay and we’re feeling up to speed with this, however the setup direction is also not easy, so we’ll have to look at Logan’s side of the garage to see what they’ve learnt from today. I feel confident in ourselves when it comes to the fight for 7th, so we’ll just focus on our own race and see how we go.

What an incredible experience, I can only thank Red Bull Racing for the opportunity to drive this car. It is immaculate to drive and these moments don’t come around very often in your career. To finally tick driving in FP1 off the bucket list is pretty special. It is so different from what I am used to, the first run was mind blowing, how quick these cars are and how much downforce and braking capacity they have. It was just a cool day in the office and I exited the car with a big smile on my face. I do a lot of work on the simulator for the Team so it’s good to correlate as much as possible back to the simulator in the factory and it is quite impressive how close it is. I had that fear factor, which you obviously don’t have on the sim and the G forces. It was a bit of a challenge, but I have given the car back to Max in one piece!

Today was a really good day! It was really busy driving in F1 and F2 in the same day but it was a really good experience, it's a big step up from F2 to F1. Driving the fastest car in the world was great, it was out of this world, especially in these conditions on track.

In FP2 we didn’t get a lap on the soft tire, so prior to the red flag I was P4, so not too bad. It’s hard to tell where we truly stack up until tomorrow, so we’ll see. We didn’t learn anything on the soft tire since we didn’t run it, so we chose to go out for a longer run on the medium compound whereas others went out on a short run on softs, so at least we got more laps than others on the mediums.

Most importantly from today, we have a car that seems okay on high fuel but is quicker than where we are on low fuel, so we need to try close this gap tomorrow in FP3. The car feels like we’re in a good place and I feel good, so I’m looking forward to getting some more runs in tomorrow ahead of Qualifying. AlphaTauri seem to have strong pace in low and high fuel but hopefully our pace is good enough to challenge our competition ahead of the weekend.

First and foremost, I really enjoyed today. It was my first time in Abu Dhabi and first time driving a Williams Racing F1 car. I made quite good progress throughout the session, getting on top of the car and the different procedures. Thank you to Williams Racing for giving me the opportunity. I can’t wait for the Young Driver Test on Tuesday, to refine some of the things I’ve learnt from FP1 and make some more progress.

It’s obviously not been the Friday I wanted here in Abu Dhabi. We played a bit with the set up in FP1 and I was looking forward to FP2 after making some changes to the car. Unfortunately, I went over the big bump at the entry to turn 3 and I lost the car over it, bottoming out and hitting the barriers.It was a costly mistake and I’m sorry for the mechanics for giving them extra work today.
I’m sure tomorrow we will be back on track and ready to go. It looks like the field is going to be tight so we can expect an interesting Qualifying.

It was a mistake on my side – driver error – I just wanted a bit too much, too soon. I lost the car, it wasn’t a big impact, but it ended my session, so it’s been a very short day in general with only one lap on the board as I didn’t drive FP1 either. FP3 is in the daytime with much hotter track temperatures, so it’s not really representative and not great in terms of learning for the car, but it will be useful for me to feel comfortable in the car.

I’m really happy to have completed another FP1 and rack up more miles in a Formula 1 car, I’ll never complain about that. It was a positive session, I built up step-by-step, the car felt good underneath me and we completed the program - that’s what I’m here to do. I think the team are happy, but I couldn’t debrief with them as I had to go back to Formula 2 afterwards, so that’s what I’m doing this evening