Belgian Grand Prix - Friday
2009 BELGIAN GRAND PRIX
FRIDAY PRESS CONFERENCE – August 28, 2009
TEAM PRINCIPALS:
Christian HORNER (Red Bull),
John HOWETT (Toyota),
Adam PARR (Williams),
Simon ROBERTS (Force India)
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Question to all of you. We see vastly varying performances from your cars from weekend to weekend. Or it seems that way. Are you happy with the consistency of your car and, if not, what is the problem? Where is the inconsistency? Adam, would you start? For example, your two cars were virtually at the bottom of the time sheets today.
Adam PARR: Well, actually this year I think we have been very pleased with our performances. It has been much more consistent than in previous years. Today has been a bit of a set back and we obviously need to do some serious work to put on a more competitive performance tomorrow afternoon. But so far this season has been much more consistent.
Q: Is there any idea what was happening?
AP: Today? Well, I hope someone has got an idea. But we are in the debrief right now, so hopefully we will know a lot more later on.
Q: Simon, what about you?
Simon ROBERTS: Well, I think that this year everything is a lot closer, so as teams move from race to race we are finding it really difficult to guess where we are going to be. That’s happened to us this afternoon. Like Adam we are in the debrief now looking at the data. I think with the tyres we thought that the softs would be the tyre to be on. We could get it to work early on but later on in the session we were not so sure. I think it is good in a way. Everyone changes a bit race to race and even small increments in performance improvement can make quite a big difference and I think that is all you are seeing really.
Q: John, Toyota seem to have been up and down a bit even in these last eight days.
John HOWETT: I think all teams have been varying. I think our biggest problem in the last two or three races appear to have been pretty strong race pace if you look at fuel corrected pace but, actually, a problem with one lap pace. We started very strongly. We seem, relatively, to have dropped back but the biggest issue we feel in the last two or three races has been the one lap pace.
Q: Christian, your consistency seems to be not bad.
CH: No, we have been reasonably consistent. Obviously, Valencia was a blip but I think on a day like today we treat it very much like a test day. It is impossible to predict what everyone else is doing with fuel loads, with revs, with engines, with set up, so we work through our own programme and we are reasonably happy with the day’s work we have done today.
Q: Adam, the form since Silverstone seems to have been really good. You seem to have taken a step up. What is the plan for the future?
AP: I think what’s happened since Silverstone, well, probably since Monaco, is actually we have been finishing the job. I think we have had a reasonably competitive car all season up until today but it took us a few races to really start bringing home the points. But I think it has been consistent since then. We have had fourth and fifth position through pretty much every race, so the main thing is just getting the job finished and we have been doing that much better recently.
Q: Is that going to be enough to hold onto Nico Rosberg?
AP: That’s a very good question. I think you will probably have to ask him whether we are doing a good enough job to hold onto him or not but we are certainly doing the best we can in terms of giving him a good car, good strategy and trying to finish it for him.
Q: What about Kazuki (Nakajima)? He seems to be having a lot of bad luck.
AP: Well, it is just absolutely awful to put a driver out there and then have a reliability issue or a pit stop issue and I think we all feel that we would like to see him doing the whole job himself and us doing our bit. It is difficult to blame a driver when you are not doing the full job yourself, so we need to look at our own performance particularly, for example, in Valencia.
Q: What is the engine situation likely to be for next year?
AP: The engine situation is still a work in progress but I think we are relatively clear on which direction we want to go in but obviously it is not finalised yet.
Q: Simon, can you tell us what your function is at Force India.
SR: I joined the team as part of the collaboration and the contract between Force India and McLaren Mercedes. It gave the team the opportunity to review its management structure which was done before I got there. I am there to run the team for Force India and that is what I do. Fundamentally because I know how all three organisations work I am pretty well placed to do that. That enabled us to take a very late decision and design and build a car around a new engine and a new gearbox and get out to do at least a couple of week’s winter testing which the team did a fantastic job doing. Really since then my focus has just been more on the internal running of the team, improving things every weekend, and helping the guys down the tunnel and the design team to bring upgrades to the track just like any other team.
Q: And the performance curve seems to be improving all the time.
SR: Yes, we are quite pleased. We are a small team and we have to be careful how we spend our money, so we had a strategy which we have been able to deploy. We took up significant upgrades to Silverstone and Valencia. Both those worked and we are still on the back of one of those here. We still have some stuff to come for later on in the season. That’s how we are doing.
Q: Presumably the target is World Championship points?
SR: Yes, we talk about it between every event. What do we need to do. What more can we do to make that a reality and all we can do is keep pushing, keep trying to improve our performance, and try and make some luck. We have been close a few times this year. We were close last year but you just have to be there. We have got ourselves into what we think is a solid Q2 team now and we think if we can run near the front of Q2, then we can score points when the opportunity arises.
Q: John, there have been all sorts of stories about the future of the team. Can you give us your point of view on that?
JH: I mean there is a lot of speculation about a lot of teams. I have no reason at all to question that Toyota will be here for the next three years and no information to the contrary. I think there was some story about budget and fundamentally our budgets are always approved in November and I genuinely was explaining that this year it was a bit more difficult to know what is likely to be approved and we have to accept that there is a very tough economy out there.
Q: How important is it for Toyota to supply another team?
JH: I think we did it really because we wanted to contribute to Formula One. I think at that time Ferrari were supplying and nobody else did. I think we are very willing and open to supply. We basically have an agreement with Williams to supply in 2010 but I think Toyota generally is normally a sensible company and if somebody does not wish to continue trading with you, we will consider favourably that decision. But, as such, as I sit here we do have a binding contract to supply Williams with engines in 2010. But we don’t gain a huge amount of material information from it. We are not developing a new engine. Therefore, I am not sure if we gain a material amount from losing supply at this current time.
Q: Jarno Trulli has outqualified Timo Glock eight to three times but they are level pegging in terms of race performances and results. What about Timo as he always seems to improve more places than any other driver this season?
JH: His race performances are always enormously strong. It is really clear that he seems to be happy. He had problems in Valencia where he was hit by (Sébastien) Buemi but when we actually look at the first two or three laps he did in the race, fuel corrected, he had an amazing pace and he continued the stints very strongly. I think really we are working very hard with him to try and improve the qualifying performance and I think if he can get there he has a really strong performance capability.
Q: Is he lacking something in qualifying?
JH: I don’t know. Last week I think he was six-tenths up on his previous lap time and would have been quicker than Jenson but had small problem in turn 13. We have got to understand whether it is the car too much on the edge or driver or set up but I think really we believe he has got it and we are working very hard to get him up the grid, so he has a good starting position.
Q: Christian, some interesting challenges for you. First of all, could you just explain to us what the situation is with Sebastian’s engines, what he’s got left, what he hasn’t got?
CH: The situation on engines is quite clear. Each driver is allowed eight race engines; four of those are consigned to shrapnel, unfortunately. But he’s got two new race engines and two used engines available to him. We will strategically use the two new engines, so we will be running one here, one possibly in Monza and then with the used engines, we will spread those out over the remaining Fridays. So if we’re frugal with the mileage on the Friday and go for quality rather than quantity, then hopefully we can avoid taking a penalty. But if we use any additional engines to those eight, then we will incur a ten-place penalty.
Q: You would never run an engine over a specific mileage that Renault have given you?
CH: Well, Renault obviously have a target mileage and as they gain confidence in those engines perhaps going beyond that mileage then we might extend but they’re working with us on that and obviously trying to support us in the best way they can.
Q: In terms of Sebastian (Vettel) and Mark (Webber) and their championship positions, how do you manage that – or do you not?
CH: Very simply; we support both drivers equally. We have brought the same upgrades to the cars at every event this year and it’s really been down to what they do on the circuit. It would be wrong from a team perspective to be favouring at this point of the championship one driver over the other, so we’ve treated both with an equal hand.
Q: We know Sebastian has got a contract until 2012, what’s the situation with Mark?
CH: Mark – we were delighted to secure his services for a further year, which we announced in Germany, the weekend that he won his first Grand Prix. So we’re really happy with the driver line-up we’ve got for 2010. I think it’s one of the stronger pairings in the field, it’s a great blend of youth and experience and there’s a very strong working spirit between the drivers, that’s professional and very collaborative, so from a team point of view, we’re extremely happy with the pairing that we have.
Q: And probably happy to have that issue settled unlike quite a few others.
CH: Yes, absolutely. Obviously we’re into the driver merry-go-round at the moment and the fact that we’re not part of that is very settling from a team point of view. They know exactly who we’re working with for next year.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Mike Doodson) My question is about aerodynamics because last year you guys sent your engineering wizards to lots of long meetings to resolve the problem of overtaking. I think the FIA had some input into that. The result, though, has been that these cars look as though they’ve been made out of Lego and there has been absolutely no improvement at all in the overtaking. I’m interested in knowing just how important overtaking is to the show as far as you’re concerned, and what is the next step?
CH: I’m not an aerodynamicist, so my answer won’t be particularly qualified but I will give you my observation. Obviously a lot of work was done through the Overtaking Working Group. It’s not rocket science to see that the lap times at several circuits this year are quicker than last year. Unfortunately, the double diffuser has played a part in that, I think, with the wake that the cars are now developing and the drivers do find it very difficult to follow each other closely. But I think the amount of development that has gone into these cars with the aero package that is there is just as critical as it has been in previous years. I think you also have to look at some of the circuit layouts. There are some circuits where you see more overtaking than others. I think you will see more this weekend at a circuit like this than you will at Singapore, for example. Unless you go back to really taking pretty much all the downforce off the car and going back to 600hp almost Formula Fords you’re not going to see a big difference in the overtaking at the current circuits that we race at. Is it important for Formula One? Well, I’ve been watching Formula One since the 1980s and I don’t think there’s ever been a huge amount of overtaking. Obviously the show is important, it’s important that drivers are able to race closely with each other and I think we actually have had some very exciting racing this year but it’s obviously something that can be worked on in the future and hopefully improved.
JH: I honestly don’t think I’ve got much to add to Christian’s point. I’ve been watching Formula One for a long time and there are those great overtaking moves but I’m not sure that in the last twenty years at least that there has been a huge amount. I think certainly FOTA now wants to look at how it can contribute generally to improving Formula One value to all the stakeholders and clearly overtaking is an issue that will need to be discussed and raised, but immediately, now, we have a formula that we’ve moved to, it hasn’t really achieved the objectives but we have had some fairly good races, the performance between the cars looks very, very close. If you look in qualifying this year there have been some circuits where it’s enormously close: nine cars in less than one second or more, so it’s something to be studied for the future but no need for panic.
SR: Yeah, I think I support everything the guys have just said. There is overtaking, certainly for our drivers in the early laps of some of the races, sometimes a little bit too exciting for us watching on the pit wall but I think it’s circuit dependent as well. As Christian said, I think here we’re expecting overtaking, I think probably the same at Monza but on the street circuits it’s very, very difficult.
AP: I think hopefully next year with the lack of refuelling and perhaps the impact that has on the tyres etc. there could be a bit more fun, but I think fundamentally, if you have ten or twelve very competent teams and double that number of very competent drivers and you line them up in order of speed it’s improbable they are going to overtake. And of course the closer they are in performance to each other, the less likely anyone is to pass anyone else. I was slightly surprised when Frank (Williams) said on Monday this week ‘we’ve got to do something about this’ and he said ‘let’s just split the race into two – have a morning race and an afternoon one on a Sunday and if that doesn’t work, let’s have a reverse grid in the second one.’ I think, personally, Valencia was quite exciting if you were in a team in the garage but quite frankly, if we carry on putting on races like that I think we will only have ourselves to blame if nobody carries on watching.
Q: (Ian Parkes – The Press Association) Christian, the Brawns are down in 17th and 18th today; does that give you cause for optimism or is there a little bit sandbagging going on from them? Is there more to come, do you think?
CH: It’s a lot of sandbagging if they are sandbagging. As I said earlier, I think that everybody goes about their own business on a Friday. They’ve obviously been looking at different wing sweeps and so on as I think all teams have been up and down the pit lane. You can’t read too much into today, they tend to obviously run quite a bit of fuel and so it will be interesting to see where the performance is tomorrow and on Sunday. We’re quite happy with the preparation that we’ve had today and there are a few other cars in the mix as well this weekend. Lewis (Hamilton), if you look through the session, looks quick again, Heikki (Kovalainen) looks quick, Kimi (Räikkönen) looks quick, so it’s going to be an interesting weekend.
Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) If I could ask Christian about his team’s engine supply and how soon you’re going to make your mind up and where you’re tending towards?
CH: Well, it will definitely be a V8! We’re obviously in a position where, as an independent team, we have a choice of engine. We’ve been very, very happy with the supply that we’ve had from Renault for the last three years. Any decision that will be made, will be made not on the outcome of a single weekend but based on what we believe offers us the best opportunity of performance and relationship for the future. We haven’t made any firm decisions yet but we’re obviously nearing a time when we need to make a commitment for next year.
Q: (MC) Is there a deadline?
CH: Well, Ross (Brawn) only chose his engine in January, so it shows it can be done pretty late. We obviously don’t want to wait that long but I would think that within the next couple of weeks we’ll hone in on a decision.
*Mark Webber - 4th: "I think that's the most we could have hoped for during today's session. You always expect to lose a session in Spa to the changeable weather conditions and that was the case this morning. We had pretty productive afternoon with plenty go through. We didn't always move in the right direction, but that's not always a bad thing as we learn from it. So, that's today and now we'll put it all in focus for tomorrow - not a bad start for us."
Sebastian Vettel - 10th: "We didn't have so much running time today, especially in the morning, but that was actually quite good for us. We knew we would face a difficult Friday as we have that much mileage available because of my engine situation, so it was a little lucky to have the rain this morning. In the afternoon, I felt comfortable with the car, we didn't have any problems and I'm quite happy with the performance. We need see exactly where we are tomorrow, but think it's been a good start to the weekend. I love this circuit, it has excellent corners and is a lot of fun."
Objectives P1
• Wet running to assess set-up requirements for these conditions
Objectives P2
• Performance evaluation of tyres – high fuel for race and low fuel for qualifying
• Evaluation of aero and mechanical set-up
Conclusions – Sam Michael, Technical Director
“The weather was mixed this morning, so it was a little difficult to see where everybody was. What the rain in the morning did mean was the afternoon was compressed in terms of getting all of our work done. The running we have done shows we are not in our normal competitive position. However, we have tested lots of things today and we have got some direction, so we will look into this tonight and do all we can to take a big step tomorrow.”
Nico Rosberg
Runs P1: 1 (new option) install, 2 (new prime) baseline, 6 (new wet) wet running, 4 (scrubbed wet) aero balance, start on grid Runs P2: 3 (scrubbed prime) baseline, 5 (scrubbed prime) continue run after red flag, 9 (new prime) new tyres, 5 (new option) new tyres, 4 (scrubbed prime) mechanical set-up, 3 (new option) new tyres “It was not a good day today. The car was a long way from the pace and with the weather this morning, we only had one session to try and make a difference, which was not enough given how far behind we were. We made some big changes and we got some answers back, but we need to have a think tonight and try to find a solution.”
Kazuki Nakajima
Runs P1: 1 (new prime) install, 2 (scrubbed prime) baseline, 7 (new wet) wet running, 5 (scrubbed wet) aero balance, start on grid Runs P2: 3 (scrubbed prime) baseline, 6 (scrubbed prime) continue run after red flag, 9 (new option) tyre test/race balance, 11 (new prime) tyre test/race balance, 4 (new option) new tyres “It was a difficult day for us. The balance of the car was not too bad but we just need to find some more performance from the car from the other aspects we can change.”
Hirohide Hamashima - Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development
What was significant about today's running?
"Today illustrates what can happen in Spa with the weather. We all expected a dry day, yet this morning we saw a wet circuit. This was good for Bridgestone as we could evaluate the performance of our latest specification intermediate tyre relative to the wet tyre. We are pleased to say our initial performance feedback and data has been as anticipated. In the afternoon we had good running with the dry tyres."
How do you expect this allocation to work over the weekend?
"Spa is an interesting circuit and its characteristics mean that both tyres work well, even though they have different temperature working ranges. Because of this we saw that the medium and soft tyres delivered very close fastest lap times, and most of the field was very close together. We expect to see more tyre evaluation take place tomorrow. We did hear different driver comments relating to the feeling from the tyres, and this is a circuit where driver confidence is very important. We didn't see graining on either compound so this highlights that both tyres could deliver strong performance if we have a dry race."
First Session
K. Raikkonen: 7° 1.52.930 16 laps 279 chassis
L. Badoer: 10° 1.55.068 20 laps 280 chassis
Second Session
K. Raikkonen: 3° 1.47.285 26 laps 279 chassis
L. Badoer: 20° 1.49.211 30 laps 280 chassis
Weather
First session: air 19/16 °C, track 20/18 °C; overcast, occasional rain. Second session: air 19/20 °C, track 26/29 °C; sunny.
Once again, Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro ran their day on two fronts. On the one hand, there was Kimi Raikkonen setting the third fastest time of the day, on the other, Luca Badoer was again at the tail end of the field. “The results of free practice always have to be looked at with a pinch of salt, as we don’t know what programmes the other teams are running,” said Stefano Domenicali. “For our part, we can be satisfied with the performance of the F60, which showed itself to be competitive both in the dry and in the wet. Kimi was very quick and I think that he can be a major player this weekend. Furthermore, we have seen how close it is, with nineteen drivers all within just over one second of one another: clearly, all you need is to have around ten litres of fuel more or less on board to change the look of the time sheet. In twentieth place, Luca has made a step forward compared to Valencia, showing that what he needs most is to do more kilometres on track. This morning’s rain definitely did not help him, even if he was more competitive in these conditions than in the afternoon. We expect to see him continue to improve throughout the weekend.”
Luca Badoer: “In the wet this morning I was reasonably happy with my performance, even if I would have preferred to have run all the time in the dry, to increase my understanding of the car. In the afternoon, we made some modifications to the set-up, but I still haven’t managed to find the ideal settings for my driving style and so, I didn’t have the right feel for the car to attack all the corners. We still have a session available to us to work on the car tomorrow morning. My aim for qualifying is very simple: to make the cut at the end of Q1.”
Kimi Raikkonen: “I am pleased with the work we have done today and the overall feeling is a positive one. The car seems to be quick, even though we know it’s only Friday and therefore we cannot be entirely sure where we are compared to the others. We had a few technical problems, although they didn’t have a significant effect on the way we got through our planned programme for the day.”
Chris Dyer: “The changing weather conditions, typical of this Grand Prix, meant we were able to test for a long time in the rain and I have to say that both drivers reckoned they were pleased with the performance of their cars in the wet and were competitive compared to the others. In the afternoon, we had a few niggles with both cars (a failure in the hydraulic system meant Kimi couldn’t get back to the pits at the end of the second session) which did not really affect our programme. Kimi proved to be very quick: now we will analyse the data to decide in which direction we should go with the car in order to improve still further the performance of his F60. Luca continued to gain experience with the car and we hope he can also improve his performance bit by bit, as he gets more mileage under his belt.”
Robert Kubica - 8th: The conditions today were quite changeable. We started the first practice session on dry tyres, but it started to rain pretty soon as actually we were only able to do one timed lap on dry tyres at the start of the session. We took advantage of the weather conditions and did a couple of laps on full wet tyres just to see how the car behaved in case of rain. We had to squeeze quite a lot into the second free practice session, and on top of that we evaluated the tyres and worked on the set-up. It was quite difficult as we had to cram several things into a very tight programme. We even had to mix several evaluations in one run. We also have a couple of new components on the car.
Nick Heidfeld – 16th: It was quite okay. In the first session the rain disrupted our programme. In the afternoon we made the usual tyre compound comparisons, with a somewhat surprising result as I found the harder compound the better one.
Willy Rampf - head of engineering: In the afternoon we concentrated mostly on the tyre comparisons, after we failed to gather any relevant information on the dry tyres in the morning. We still have quite a lot of work to do on the set-up of the car, because it is particularly important for the drivers to feel confident on this demanding track. The second sector, with its quick corners, is the most important one and this is what we have to focus on. Once again the field is very close with 18 cars classified within one second.
Fernando Alonso - 14th: "We did quite a few laps today, especially in P2. In P1 we were affected quite a lot by the rain, but in the afternoon we were able to concentrate on evaluating the tyres and we are happy with the balance we have with the car. Tomorrow it will be an important qualifying session because we are all determined to get a good result this weekend, so most importantly we would like a good grid position tomorrow."
Romain Grosjean - 5th: "Today was very interesting as we had wet and dry conditions as is quite normal for Spa. Once again Fernando has been very helpful and comparing my data with his data really helped me today as I could see where I needed to improve. In the afternoon session we concentrated on testing the two types of tyre and I managed to do over 30 laps so I think we are quite well prepared for tomorrow."
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering: "It was a productive day. This morning of course was interrupted by rain, but it gave us a chance to look at the car in wet conditions and it gave Romain a chance to drive an F1 car in the wet. In the afternoon, we concentrated on evaluating the tyres which are so important here in Spa. I'm pleased with the progress we have made and happy with the balance of the car. All in all, it has been a successful Friday."
Lewis Hamilton, P1 -no time, 20th; P2 - 1:47.201, 1st
"I'm happier today than I expected. We don't have as much downforce as some of the other teams, so we're not as quick as we'd like to be, especially in the middle sector. Fortunately, however, we have KERS and can use it to our advantage in the first and third sectors. The car didn't feel fantastic today - but we only really had one session to find a set-up so we've got some changes to make overnight. Still, this is a massive improvement compared with Turkey or Silverstone, and we look competitive, which is important, so we're not unhappy."
Heikki Kovalainen, P1 - 1:53.383, 8th; P2 - 1:47.743, 12th
"I think slower speed corners suit our car better than high-speed stuff. So I guess we are still losing a bit of time in the high-speed corners compared to the fastest cars. But we've definitely made some good improvements in this area and the car feels positive to drive and seems to be working quite well around here. We're in the hunt again, which is encouraging, and we're working on a strong strategy for the race. We should be able to fight for a good starting position in qualifying tomorrow."
Martin Whitmarsh, McLaren team principal:
"As always at Spa, the weather played a prominent role in our preparations for the race - but the local micro-climate is one of the idiosyncrasies of the place, and the reason why it so often throws up an unusual result. As an example, this morning's rainfall initially looked like a passing shower but ended up rendering much of P1 useless for practical evaluation. Into this afternoon's practice, the blue skies enabled us to complete some more meaningful running as we crammed a busy set-up evaluation and a tyre analysis programme into a single session. The lack of running means there's still scope for further improvement, and there's plenty of work to be done overnight, but we end the first day reasonably encouraged by the speed of our overall package."
Norbert Haug, vice-president, Mercedes-Benz Motorsport:
"Today was a positive start to our weekend. Having said that, the top 10 is only separated by 0.4s and there are 18 cars - including the top two in the world championship in 17th and 18th spots - within less than a second of each other. This shows just how mega-competitive Formula One is these days and today was probably the Friday with the closest lap times in the history of this demanding traditional 7km circuit. However, things will probably look different tomorrow. I'm definitely not expecting the four guys fighting for the world championship to be in positions four, 10, 17 and 18 on the grid. Neither Lewis nor Heikki have been completely happy with the set-ups of their cars so there will be some work to be done before tomorrow. But, all in all, Spa has started off better than I would have expected, and everybody in the team has been working flat out to make sure we are continuing in that direction."
Timo Glock, P1 - 2:06.331, 18th; P2 - 1:47.217, 2nd
"Whenever you come back to Spa it is a nice experience to do your first laps of the weekend and that was the case again today. It's a great circuit and very satisfying for a driver, especially when you have a competitive car. It's hard to draw any conclusions from the wet session this morning but I am pleased to be second in the afternoon; that is very encouraging. The car felt pretty good and the lap times show that. Still, there are a couple of areas to improve so we will work on those before qualifying and try to find the perfect aerodynamic balance. I am happy with how things went today and I'm interested to see where we are tomorrow."
Jarno Trulli, P1 - 1:49.675, 1st; P2 -1:47.559, 7th
"It was a good Friday for us. Obviously there is still work to do to get the most out of the car and I need to find a bit more grip at the rear end but all in all I am very happy with the results today. I have a good feeling from the car so I hope it will be a competitive weekend for us. The track was wet this morning which meant we couldn't do all of the tests we had planned but we did some laps to better understand the car in those conditions. In the afternoon, when it was dry, the track just got quicker and quicker. I was working mainly on race pace today, getting the car set-up in race trim so we have a good balance for Sunday, and it seems to be reacting well."
Dieter Gass, Toyota chief engineer race and test:
"Overall it has been a positive day for us. It was a bit unfortunate that the first session was disrupted by wet conditions because dry weather is forecast for the rest of the weekend, so we lost some time to work on the car. In the afternoon we were mainly concentrating on assessing the revised aerodynamic package we have brought to this race. We also looked at the tyres and both specifications seem to be behaving okay. We anticipated some warm-up issues but that doesn't seem to be the case. In general we are quite happy with what we have seen so far so we are looking forward with optimism to the rest of the weekend."
Giancarlo Fisichella, P1 - 2:03.972, 11th; P2 - 1:47.506, 6th
“We had a lot of understeer at the beginning of the afternoon but we improved the balance of the car and made a good step forward for the last run of the day. My last lap was good and I'm happy I could record a quick time. We still need to work on the amount of understeer we have but apart from that today was not too bad. It's difficult to say where we will be tomorrow, but top 15 is realistic and of course we will try our best to get in the top 10 but it is going to be very difficult.”
Adrian Sutil, P1 - 2:05.839, 16th; P2 - 1:47.790, 13th
“It's great to be back at Spa this weekend. I really enjoy driving here, even in the wet. I'm quite happy with today. We had a lot of work to get through in the afternoon and trying to get the balance and the tyres to work took some time. We had quite a lot of understeer but when we understood it I felt much more comfortable in the car and with our pace. Unfortunately I got traffic on my last lap so the time isn't a true reflection of what we could do but I'm confident for tomorrow and maintaining our recent performance.”
Dominic Harlow, Force India chief race engineer:
“It wouldn't have been Spa without the wet session, and that meant our afternoon practice was slightly condensed in order to try and fit in all the work we had planned. Obviously here we need to evaluate wing levels and the effect that this has on speed and set-up, and also the Bridgestone medium and soft tyres that are available. The drivers reported some understeer, and there is still a bit of work to do on setup. It looks close again, and we will have to work hard to maintain our level of competitiveness from Valencia.”
Jaime Alguersuari, P1 - 1:51.529, 5th; P2 - 1:47.579, 9th
“In the past I’ve been competitive here in Formula 3 and other series and I think today went quite well. It’s nice to drive a Formula 1 car on a track where you feel at ease. I’m getting a better feeling for the car now and we made some good improvements to it during the two sessions, even if there is a little bit more still to come. My pace is improving, as I get more confident with the car in the fast corners.”
Sebastien Buemi, P1 - 1:51.045, 4th; P2 - 1:47.702, 11th
“This is a beautiful circuit and we had a very good car, so I am happy with the way things went today. We managed to improve the car lap after lap and we are working in the right direction. I think we have good speed, although we won’t get the full picture until qualifying tomorrow. There is not that much difference between the two types of tyre, but as always we are a little bit faster on the Option.”
Jenson Button, P1 - 1:50.283, 2nd; P2 - 1:48.125, 17th
"It was a tough session this morning as we weren't able to get much done apart from some wet running at the end. However that experience is good here just in case it rains over the weekend which is always possible at Spa. The second session this afternoon was much more useful. We worked through a few aero and downforce comparisons as well as looking at the tyres. We collected a lot of information but obviously at the moment we're not as quick as we would like to be. There are a few areas that we do need to improve on with the balance but the potential is there to do that ahead of qualifying."
Rubens Barrichello, P1 - 1:52.321, 6th; P2 - 1:48.130, 18th
"We got through a lot of work today which sets the weekend up nicely. There is still some way to go to realise the full potential of the car but as always on a Friday, the lap times don't tell the whole story. It was pretty useful to get some wet running in this morning just in case the weather plays a part in qualifying or the race. The car doesn't feel as competitive as it did in Valencia last weekend but we're going to be in a good position to fight hard in qualifying tomorrow."
Ross Brawn, Brawn GP team principal:
"A good start to the weekend and we were able to achieve much of our planned testing programme despite the interruptions from the weather this morning. We're not experiencing any issues with tyre temperatures so far which is positive and it's good to see our hard work in this area starting to pay dividends. There is still some way to go to maximise the set-up of the car to the requirements of both drivers so it will be a busy hour of practice tomorrow morning to get ready for qualifying."
