Team reaction after day one in Sepang (part 2)

Force India Mercedes

Hot and humid Sepang was the venue for the opening day of practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix this weekend. Teams and drivers sizzled in the searing heat during the two 90 minute sessions, the curtain raiser to the third event of the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship. Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta were back in action for Force India in FP1, with regular race driver Tonio Liuzzi returning for FP2 as test and reserve driver Paul got more time in the VJM03 as part of his scheduled programme.

The trio ploughed through the standard Friday workload of tyre and set-up evaluation and - in Paul’s case - circuit familiarisation. Adrian was a promising seventh quickest while Paul was 15th in FP1. Tonio returned for the second session, setting the 12th quickest time while Adrian posted the 10th best lap.

Adrian Sutil: "Today was very much following our normal Friday programme. I had to be a little bit patient as the track was dusty at the beginning of the morning so it was just driving and learning the circuit again. In the afternoon we then went to do a little set-up work. It was difficult with the hot track temperatures we experience here as the tyres overheated very quickly and it was challenging to get it under control. We have a few things to look at set-up wise but we should be fine for tomorrow. We are in the top 10 still, just behind the top four teams. I think it will be an interesting day, probably with some rain thrown in as well!"

Tonio Liuzzi: "Today was a good opening day of practice for the team. I missed the morning session but we did the most important job of understanding the tyres and following our programme targets. We are quite happy, and although the car suffered a little understeer in the high speed corners, it is responding well and we understand the behaviour of the tyres over the longer runs. It looks like qualifying here will be interesting as the rain started at 4pm but we can deal with the conditions I am sure."

Paul di Resta: "I’m feeling a lot more comfortable and I think that was why I was able to get up to speed relatively quickly. It ran more smoothly today and even though I didn’t have any prior experience of the circuit I got into a relatively comfortable zone quite soon. The programme was exactly the same as if Tonio had been in the car, running through baselines and then understanding the tyres. Here the tyres don’t last very long with the heat and we missed the peak with them and didn’t quite set the optimum time, but I think ultimately you can’t pay too much attention to that as it’s not always going to be relative to what we are doing and where we are. It’s just getting myself in the environment, getting the track time and learning the circuits."

Dominic Harlow, chief race engineer: "We didn’t encounter any major problems today as we established the relative performance and degradation characteristics of the two tyres available for this race. The high track and air temperatures are, as usual here, dominating the behaviour of the car. Today’s sessions have been at the normal times of day, but as we head into the weekend they become later again, and that will be a factor in the decisions we make overnight. We’ve more work to do, but are looking forward to the challenges of the weekend ahead."

Sauber Ferrari

It was a trouble free start to the Malaysian Grand Prix weekend for Kamui Kobayashi and Pedro de la Rosa. Besides the usual set-up work and race preparation, the team found time to test the new rear wing system again in both free practice sessions.

Kamui Kobayashi: “The car seems to be better than last week in Melbourne, but obviously we need to keep working hard to find a better pace. For me it is good that I know the track here so well, that makes it easy. While driving the heat isn’t an issue, but if you sit in the car in the garage waiting for the next outing you almost get grilled. In the afternoon session the asphalt was really, really hot when it reached 50 degrees, and this certainly is hard on the tyres. But perhaps it is a useful experience as the qualifying and the race are also in the afternoon.”

Pedro de la Rosa: “It was a really positive Friday as we were able to do a lot of testing and tried different things including our new rear wing system. Balance wise, I am happier with the car now than I was in Australia and I enjoy the high speed corners of the Sepang circuit quite a lot. However, we need to find some more pace.”

Willy Rampf, Technical Director: “We used both sessions to test different configurations of our new rear wing. We will analyse the data here at the track and in the factory in Hinwil to decide on the next steps. In preparation for the race we did long runs with the option tyres to get an understanding of their behaviour when we have a heavy car and a very high track temperature. Overall it was a productive day without any technical problems. We were able to complete our planned programme.”

Williams Cosworth

Sam Michael, Technical Director: "We spent today’s practice sessions working on starts and evaluating a revised diffuser and front brake duct. The tyres appear to be quite stable again, something we’ve come to expect from Bridgestone. Tonight we’ll be focussing on extracting more speed out of the FW32 for qualifying. We had a mechanical problem on Nico’s car in the afternoon session, but the mechanics were able to fix it quickly."

Rubens Barrichello: "That was a tough day for us. We carried out lots of interrogations on the car, but we feel that we aren’t as quick as we should be so we have a lot of work to do tonight to find out why that is."

Nico Hulkenberg: "It was a pretty difficult day, certainly not ideal. We had some technical issues on my car but I’m not quite sure what they are yet. We need to get our heads together to find some time for qualifying."

Lotus Cosworth

Friday began with Mike Gascoyne’s birthday being celebrated in the garage bfore the action on track began in what is fast becoming Lotus Racing’s signature style, with Fairuz Fauzy in chassis T127-01 first out on track trying out a shark fin engine cover in the morning session.

Whilst replacing Heikki Kovalainen for the session he completed 19 laps with a best time of 1.40.721 in a good run in the morning heat. Jarno Trulli completed 21 laps and finished ahead of the other new teams on 1.39.460.

Before Fairuz saw the green light Tony lent into the cockpit to tell Fairuz how proud both he and the whole country was of this landmark moment. After the session was completed Tony said “It’s just unbelievable! I woke up at 6am today as I couldn’t sleep I was so excited. I’m just really pleased to see Fairuz out there with Jarno and the rest of the household names that make up the grid.

“It’s great that F1 gives the chance for developing teams and developing countries to come to the fore and grab this sort of opportunity. It shows that the combination of British and Malaysian skills can dare to dream of competing on a global level, and can do so in an innovative, fresh way. Fairuz is a lad who has climbed the motorsport ladder - from his local roots at the kart circuit his Father built in Kuala Lumpur, to being on track in F1 in a car built in the UK and competing all around the world. For me that’s a very clear sign of how well our Anglo-Malaysian collaboration is working, and long may that continue.”

Fairuz himself said “I feel very good, very motivated and this is really a special day for me as it’s our home run. It’s great to be back again. The last time I was in Barcelona, which is a long time ago! I’ve always said that I’ll be ready and fit, but it’s still great that I was on the pace immediately. I’m happy and I hope we can do well this weekend – the car feels great, and I think it’s faster than it was in Melbourne. It’s going to be an exciting weekend – in Malaysia, anything can happen! If it rains and we can get an advantage out of it, then that’s good.

Jarno Trulli: “It started off as a difficult day but I managed to do some good setup work and it was a positive two sessions. It seems we are competitive when compared to the other new teams but as we are ultimately aiming to fight with the top teams we are looking to get ourselves into a position where we can work on detailed setups, and that will start from Barcelona. I am pleased that today’s sessions, when compared to the previous two races, both went faultlessly and I’m very glad about that. I like the heat – I like racing in the heat as it tests fitness and I’ve always performed well here, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow and the race on Sunday.”

Heikki Kovalainen: “I’m really pleased with the car – obviously I didn’t get much time to practice today, but it felt good and I’m feeling very confident with it. I’m looking forward to the race ahead – I think we’re in really good shape. We tried a different set up with my car, and it took a few laps to get into it, but really I was very pleased and happy and looking forward to getting in the car again tomorrow. Weather wise, it is very hot and humid, and it’s difficult conditions here, but I’m feeling good and am very fit for the race.”

Mike Gascoyne: “All round a very successful day. It was good to have Fairuz in the car this morning and he was able to complete his entire program. Heikki took over the car in the afternoon and was also able to finish his planned program - evaluating the tyres and the race pace of the car. We had no mechanical issues on either car and in general I’m very pleased with the progress we’re making, so well done to the whole team.”

Rounding off the day in Malaysia was Tony Fernandes who said “Great day – we did everything we wanted to do and I’m extremely pleased. We’re getting better and better so let’s hope we continue this tomorrow in qualifying. We are being realistic though – points aren’t in my mind. I just want to finish the race, get both cars home and keep our feet on the ground. Of course I’m still dreaming – I put Colin Chapman’s cap on the pit wall to remind everyone of what we’re aspiring to, but we’ll get there in the right way, and the dream continues.”

Virgin Racing Cosworth

Virgin Racing enjoyed two very productive free practice sessions in Sepang today as running commenced in preparation for this weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix. Conditions were hot and humid, punctuated by a brief shower during the break between sessions with ominous storm clouds gathering from midway through the second session, although they didn’t actually deliver any rain.

The day panned out exactly as per the run plan and, without wishing to tempt fate, there were no major issues to contend with. The team were able to establish a good baseline for the car and work on various strategic options in preparation for both qualifying and the race.

This morning, Timo and Lucas ended the day 20th and 21st after 17 and 25 laps respectively. This afternoon, they were 21st and 22nd on the timesheets having notched up a further 23 laps and 29 laps respectively.

The track temperature peaked at 52°C and the ambient high was 33°C, with humidity running at 58%.

Timo Glock: “We had a good Free Practice day today without any major problems, which is good for us and it’s encouraging to have such a good start to the weekend. We had a little trouble at the end with a minor power steering issue, which meant we couldn’t get a good run in to finish the day, but generally the team did an excellent job so I’m pleased and optimistic that this is a good sign for the rest of the weekend.”

Lucas di Grassi: “A really good day for us with no issues. The car is running smoothly and there is a lot more performance to come, but we are very happy with our best Friday so far. It means we are evolving both as a team and in terms of developing the car.”

Nick Wirth, Technical Director: “In the context of our winter testing and the first two races, today was a clear step forward for the Virgin Racing team. Both Timo and Lucas managed to work through good programmes and we seem to have a clear direction to follow tomorrow on set-up. The high-speed corners of Sepang highlighted a small set-up issue on the power steering on Timo’s car, which we’ll correct tonight. Overall a solid start to the weekend.”

HRT F1 Cosworth

Karun Chandhok in chassis F110-01 #20 completed 24 laps in the morning session, for a best lap time of 1.41.966 while Bruno Senna in chassis F110-02 #21 completed 27 laps with a best time of 1.41.832.

In the second ninety minutes afternoon free practice session, in preparation of the longest race - in terms of distance - of the 2010 season (192.879 miles/310.408 km) and its 56 laps, the heat was suffocating on the Malaysian track despite a shower between the two sessions, but in the end, the track remained dry. The two cars managed to work smoothly over the two sessions which is very positive ahead of a difficult race week-end.

Today, the HRT F1 Team continued its development program at only the third Grand Prix of its short history with no pre-season testing for Karun Chandhok nor Bruno Senna. Both cars have respectively covered 110 laps today.

Dr. Colin Kolles: “Both sessions were productive and ran as smooth as possible for both Karun and Bruno who could cover all the planned testing program while driving most laps ever in their practice history. Technically everything worked well and this is very positive for the team to be running through a normal driving program with a crew that worked very hard to make all of this happen. Now, we need to go beyond and improve drivability of the car.”

Karun Chandhok: “The practice sessions were useful for us as we did some long runs. It is positive that we did that many laps today, which was our objective for this weekend.”

Bruno Senna: “We were ready straight away when the first session started and that was a good feeling. We managed all programs, we had no mechanical problem. It is good to have the first 100 percent reliable day and I’m happy about that. I’m looking forward to Practice 3 tomorrow ahead of a good qualifying.”