News
7th November 2014, 23:10
Daniel Ricciardo hints that the second row of the grid - or better - could be within Red Bull's reach; Nico Rosberg allays fears that tyre blistering could be a major headache for Mercedes and the rest of the grid; Jean-Eric Vergne explains why his Friday travails won't derail his weekend.
The drivers and senior team personnel report back on the first day of action in Sao Paulo...
Mercedes
Nico Rosberg, P1 - 1:12.764, 1st; P2 - 1:12.123, 1st
"That was a good day and we are very quick again at this circuit. The track has a new surface which made it quite tricky. It's smooth and not quite so bumpy as it has been in the past - but the tyres were blistering because of the high temperatures and the new asphalt. That was a bit worrying, but we are expecting it to be a bit cooler over the weekend. I'm looking forward to tomorrow - it should be a great battle."
Lewis Hamilton, P1 - 1:12.985, 2nd; P2 - 1:12.336, 2nd
"The car felt good today. There are a few improvements we can make but I just didn't manage to put a lap together out there. That's not a big issue, though. It's just practice so that's what we're out there trying to do. I'm not sure how many laps we'll get out of the tyres as there were quite a few red flags at the end so we didn't get the best opportunity for long runs but that's the same for everyone. It's hard to tell where the tyres are compared to 2013 with the different compounds as we didn't have any dry running until the race last year. Otherwise the circuit felt good. It's nice and smooth and the grip is good. It's different every time we come here and you never know what the weather is going to do. But that's what makes this such an exciting race."
Toto Wolff, head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport
"It looked like a pretty normal day in terms of performance, with Nico and Lewis trading fastest times during the two sessions, but the temperatures were much higher than we are expecting for the rest of the weekend. So we will have to anticipate how to develop the set-up in the right way. It was also an interrupted day, with several red flags, which made it a challenge for the boys to get into their rhythm. I would like to compliment the promoters on the job they have done with the new track surface. We have heard good feedback, likewise on the safer pit entry, and the higher grip level has also cut lap times to levels we have not seen for a number of years, which is great for the fans here in Brazil."
Paddy Lowe, Mercedes team executive director (technical)
"We managed to follow our normal programme today, running two sets of prime tyres in the first session on low and high fuel, followed by the prime and option in second practice, also on low and high fuel loads. Mechanically, it was a trouble-free day and the newly resurfaced circuit proved much quicker than expected and, although the tarmac was dirty early in the day, it soon cleaned up. The tyre behaviour shifted during the day: in the early runs, they were not really in their working window, while towards the end of the afternoon, when we saw some of the highest track temperatures of the season so far, we saw some heavy blistering. The major difficulty now will be that the weather predicted for tomorrow and Sunday is much cooler than what we saw today, so our long runs will not have been particularly representative. That will make it all the more important to anticipate the evolution in conditions and make the correct set-up decisions this evening."
Toro Rosso
Daniil Kvyat, P1 - 1:13.723, 3rd; P2 - 1:13.254, 8th
"Mixed feelings today. In the morning we looked quite competitive, while in the afternoon our performance was not that good. The track conditions between the two sessions changed a lot, making it difficult the get the best out of the tyres. It looks like conditions are going to be changeable this weekend, so we have to be ready for everything. The positive is that we know in which direction we have to move. We have some homework to do overnight, but I'm confident we can improve for tomorrow."
Jean-Eric Vergne, P2 - 1:17.171, 17th
"After just a few laps in this session, I suddenly suffered a loss of power, a complete black out on the electrical side, which we will have to investigate now. Unfortunately it was not possible to get the car back to the garage to have a look and see if we could fix it in time and go out again. Not driving on Friday doesn't help us to set up the car properly but this won't stop me from having a good weekend."
Max Verstappen, P1 - 1:13.827, 6th
"At the beginning the track was quite slippery, especially when you went off the racing line, so I think the tyres will be a key factor this weekend. I enjoyed today as always and this track is very nice to drive. Every time I get in the car I feel more comfortable, lap by lap I get a better understanding of its behaviour. We have made a few changes from Austin to here, for example in the steering, which I now feel is more to my liking. This meant I could try and find the limit a bit more than in the past weekends. I'm quite satisfied with my job and I like working with this team very much. We are starting to know each other better and they understand better what I want from the car, my driving style, and the set up becomes easier. I think I had a good practice session and it's great to see that both our cars were very competitive."
Phil Charles, Toro Rosso chief race engineer
"It's been a really difficult day for the tyres, because of the very high track temperature of over 50 degrees. The long runs do not look as competitive we would like but I'm sure it's the same for many others. This is something we have got to tackle overnight to understand what we have to do to try and address that. We're very sorry for Jev. He missed FP1 this morning with Max running and then he had a problem very early this afternoon. That's very unfortunate and it's certainly a tricky start to the weekend for him. Nevertheless, there are some positive aspects. Daniil's car looks not too bad, we just need to be a bit more sympathetic with the tyres, even in the short runs, but overall we are satisfied. Max did a very good job in FP1."
Ricardo Penteado, Renault Sport F1 track support leader
"Daniil was quick in both sessions and didn't have any problems with his car's Power Unit, despite Interlagos being one of the toughest tracks on the calendar for the ICE. Jean-Eric was less lucky though, completing just two laps before his ERS encountered a problem. Obviously that's not ideal for him, but at least we can use a lot of the data from Daniil, who worked on cooling and turbo mapping
More... (http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2014/11/16596.html)
The drivers and senior team personnel report back on the first day of action in Sao Paulo...
Mercedes
Nico Rosberg, P1 - 1:12.764, 1st; P2 - 1:12.123, 1st
"That was a good day and we are very quick again at this circuit. The track has a new surface which made it quite tricky. It's smooth and not quite so bumpy as it has been in the past - but the tyres were blistering because of the high temperatures and the new asphalt. That was a bit worrying, but we are expecting it to be a bit cooler over the weekend. I'm looking forward to tomorrow - it should be a great battle."
Lewis Hamilton, P1 - 1:12.985, 2nd; P2 - 1:12.336, 2nd
"The car felt good today. There are a few improvements we can make but I just didn't manage to put a lap together out there. That's not a big issue, though. It's just practice so that's what we're out there trying to do. I'm not sure how many laps we'll get out of the tyres as there were quite a few red flags at the end so we didn't get the best opportunity for long runs but that's the same for everyone. It's hard to tell where the tyres are compared to 2013 with the different compounds as we didn't have any dry running until the race last year. Otherwise the circuit felt good. It's nice and smooth and the grip is good. It's different every time we come here and you never know what the weather is going to do. But that's what makes this such an exciting race."
Toto Wolff, head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport
"It looked like a pretty normal day in terms of performance, with Nico and Lewis trading fastest times during the two sessions, but the temperatures were much higher than we are expecting for the rest of the weekend. So we will have to anticipate how to develop the set-up in the right way. It was also an interrupted day, with several red flags, which made it a challenge for the boys to get into their rhythm. I would like to compliment the promoters on the job they have done with the new track surface. We have heard good feedback, likewise on the safer pit entry, and the higher grip level has also cut lap times to levels we have not seen for a number of years, which is great for the fans here in Brazil."
Paddy Lowe, Mercedes team executive director (technical)
"We managed to follow our normal programme today, running two sets of prime tyres in the first session on low and high fuel, followed by the prime and option in second practice, also on low and high fuel loads. Mechanically, it was a trouble-free day and the newly resurfaced circuit proved much quicker than expected and, although the tarmac was dirty early in the day, it soon cleaned up. The tyre behaviour shifted during the day: in the early runs, they were not really in their working window, while towards the end of the afternoon, when we saw some of the highest track temperatures of the season so far, we saw some heavy blistering. The major difficulty now will be that the weather predicted for tomorrow and Sunday is much cooler than what we saw today, so our long runs will not have been particularly representative. That will make it all the more important to anticipate the evolution in conditions and make the correct set-up decisions this evening."
Toro Rosso
Daniil Kvyat, P1 - 1:13.723, 3rd; P2 - 1:13.254, 8th
"Mixed feelings today. In the morning we looked quite competitive, while in the afternoon our performance was not that good. The track conditions between the two sessions changed a lot, making it difficult the get the best out of the tyres. It looks like conditions are going to be changeable this weekend, so we have to be ready for everything. The positive is that we know in which direction we have to move. We have some homework to do overnight, but I'm confident we can improve for tomorrow."
Jean-Eric Vergne, P2 - 1:17.171, 17th
"After just a few laps in this session, I suddenly suffered a loss of power, a complete black out on the electrical side, which we will have to investigate now. Unfortunately it was not possible to get the car back to the garage to have a look and see if we could fix it in time and go out again. Not driving on Friday doesn't help us to set up the car properly but this won't stop me from having a good weekend."
Max Verstappen, P1 - 1:13.827, 6th
"At the beginning the track was quite slippery, especially when you went off the racing line, so I think the tyres will be a key factor this weekend. I enjoyed today as always and this track is very nice to drive. Every time I get in the car I feel more comfortable, lap by lap I get a better understanding of its behaviour. We have made a few changes from Austin to here, for example in the steering, which I now feel is more to my liking. This meant I could try and find the limit a bit more than in the past weekends. I'm quite satisfied with my job and I like working with this team very much. We are starting to know each other better and they understand better what I want from the car, my driving style, and the set up becomes easier. I think I had a good practice session and it's great to see that both our cars were very competitive."
Phil Charles, Toro Rosso chief race engineer
"It's been a really difficult day for the tyres, because of the very high track temperature of over 50 degrees. The long runs do not look as competitive we would like but I'm sure it's the same for many others. This is something we have got to tackle overnight to understand what we have to do to try and address that. We're very sorry for Jev. He missed FP1 this morning with Max running and then he had a problem very early this afternoon. That's very unfortunate and it's certainly a tricky start to the weekend for him. Nevertheless, there are some positive aspects. Daniil's car looks not too bad, we just need to be a bit more sympathetic with the tyres, even in the short runs, but overall we are satisfied. Max did a very good job in FP1."
Ricardo Penteado, Renault Sport F1 track support leader
"Daniil was quick in both sessions and didn't have any problems with his car's Power Unit, despite Interlagos being one of the toughest tracks on the calendar for the ICE. Jean-Eric was less lucky though, completing just two laps before his ERS encountered a problem. Obviously that's not ideal for him, but at least we can use a lot of the data from Daniil, who worked on cooling and turbo mapping
More... (http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2014/11/16596.html)