“We tried various settings and now we need to look at the data from everything we have done over these three hours, to be as well-prepared as possible. I feel comfortable on this track and I think I can be very competitive tomorrow and on Sunday in the race. It would be fantastic to win again here, after having done it for the past two years.”
The
Scuderia's technical director Luca Baldisserri was not entirely happy with the day's outcome, however, insisting that much more work has yet to be done if the two scarlet machines are to stave off the threat of a resurgent McLaren-Mercedes over the remainder of the weekend.
“This Friday's free practice did not go entirely to plan,” the Italian admitted. “This morning we had a gearbox problem on Kimi's car which meant he was stuck in the pits for most of the first session. Felipe managed to get through his planned programme and is reasonably satisfied with the handling of his car, while Kimi is less so.
“As usual for a Friday, we worked on finding the best set-up on the car and on a comparison of the two types of
Bridgestone tyre available to us. Now we have to study all the data we have gathered to understand how to improve the performance on both cars.”
“For the umpteenth time today we learnt, if indeed we needed to learn it, that it only takes the slightest little hitch to lose valuable time,” agreed team principal Stefano Domenicali. “From what we saw on-track, it is very close between us and our main competitors. From our side, we need to work very carefully to find the right settings for both cars and to be in the best possible shape for qualifying and, above all, for the race.”
