FP1 & FP2 - German GP report: Williams Mercedes

Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering

We concentrated on aerodynamic testing for most of the morning, focussing on the front wings in particular. We looked at the different specifications of the different front wing packages across the two cars. In the afternoon we concentrated on tyre work. We’re a little bit out of position on low fuel runs. On the high fuel runs it’s slightly better but the field’s a little bit mixed up so it’s very difficult to tell. We’ll have a clearer picture tomorrow, but I think we’ve probably got a bit of work to do tonight. The good thing is that the areas we need to work on are very clear. Weather wise I think it’s going to be a straightforward weekend and if it does rain tomorrow then it shouldn’t be too heavy as far as our forecasts are showing.

Valtteri Bottas

Today was quite a standard Friday to be honest. We’ve been doing shorter and longer runs to try out the front wings and get information on the tyres. Everything we needed to do today we managed to complete. Personally, I think we can be better than this and I’m sure we can be more competitive going into tomorrow. Qualifying is going to be very close because the track here is quite short so the time differences are going to be very small.

Felipe Massa

It was a very difficult Friday to be honest. I struggled to find a good balance with the car and to understand how the tyres are working around here. It also wasn’t a good day in terms of laptimes as we struggled with the consistency of the tyres. There’s definitely work that we need to do ahead of FP3 and qualifying tomorrow.