Team reaction after day one in Shanghai (part 2)

Ferrari

Stefano Domenicali: “Today, we had various new components on the car, including a new type of rear wing and other aerodynamic parts, which required a specific work schedule. Clearly we could have done without the problem we had with Fernando’s engine but, overall, this did not lead to any specific consequences, apart from time lost in this morning’s first session, as our management programme relating to available engine use remains substantially unchanged. We are reasonably happy with the work we did and now we will concentrate on analysing the date and on preparing the cars for qualifying and the race. While it is always difficult to evaluate the pecking order based on what happens in free practice, we are not expecting a very different picture to the one we have seen in the first three races of the season: in other words, everyone is very closely matched, meaning the grid positions could be decided by the smallest detail.”

Felipe Massa: “I am satisfied with the way this free practice day went. We did a lot of kilometres, concentrating mainly on preparing the car for Sunday’s race. We also evaluated new aerodynamic components, not just for this race, but also for mid-term development, gathering significant data which will now be analysed by the engineers. On top of that, we managed to do a comparison between the two types of tyre that Bridgestone has brought here. I think several teams are going to be very competitive: not just McLaren and Red Bull, but also Mercedes who have made a step forward. Let’s hope we will be in the fight with them.”

Fernando Alonso: “Clearly I’m not happy to have had an engine failure, but I’m not the slightest bit worried by it. The engine I had this morning was the one we had changed after qualifying in Bahrain and we knew that, sooner or later, it could break. It happened today, but it won’t have much effect on our original engine management plan. We also did various tests of new aerodynamic components, such as the rear wing. It is pointless looking at today’s time sheet, because each team follows its own work programme and that makes it impossible to compare the times. We stuck to our plan and we are pretty happy with what we achieved. I think we will be competitive at this track.”

Chris Dyer: “We had a very busy programme for today and we can say we got through it in a positive way. We have a new aero package for this race, which needed validating on track and then we had some parts relating to a new concept for the rear wing, which we wanted to check out before moving on to develop it for forthcoming races. We are pleased with the data we gathered and with the way the new aerodynamic package is working. In the afternoon, we looked mainly at the comparison between the two types of tyre Bridgestone has brought for this Grand Prix. In the morning, we had a problem with Fernando’s engine, which had little consequence, apart from bringing forward by one session the previously planned engine change.”

Sauber Ferrari

The two 90 minute free practice sessions for the Chinese Grand Prix went smoothly for the BMW Sauber F1 Team. Kamui Kobayashi and Pedro de la Rosa completed their programme as planned in chilly Shanghai.

Pedro de la Rosa: “We treated the day very much as a test day. We tried different set-up options and in the end the car was a bit better. At the end of the second session we compared the option and the prime tyres. The lap time with the softer compound, the option, actually wasn’t good enough compared to the harder prime compound. We have to look into that now. All in all it was a trouble free and productive first day.”

Kamui Kobayashi: “The track improved a lot during the day. It was very dusty in the morning and then the usual conditions came back. We had no problems or any issues, and the programme was fine. The balance of the car is okay, but still we have to find a better pace. It is a nice and challenging track and I expect us to see some good overtaking on Sunday in the race.”

James Key, Technical Director: “It was good to see the team operating for the first time with the cars and drivers on the track. I think fundamentally we made some progress today. We tried a couple of small new directions on the car, some of which gave us data for the future, some of which we are using now. So I think we found some time today with the changes we made. We’ve got a little bit of work left with the rear wing for the remainder of the weekend. And also some work to do with the tyres in order to fully understand how to get the most out of them, because clearly the warm up was difficult today for both tyres. We will work through the data tonight and see what we need to do for tomorrow.”

Williams Cosworth

Adam Parr, Chairman: We had a very full programme today, working through the normal set-up routine and testing some development parts. We’ve made good progress.

Rubens Barrichello: Today went as planned working through set-ups and some aero modifications. We run the engine quite safe on Fridays so our times are expected. Our target tomorrow is to get into qualifying three.

Nico Hulkenberg: It was pretty hard work today. We have a few problems to solve before qualifying tomorrow, but I am confident we will get there. We were running a new front wing on the car which gave us some positive results.

Lotus Cosworth

Bright sunshine greeted Lotus Racing in Shanghai as Friday’s practice sessions went according to plan for the team, enjoying its debut in China. The track was very dirty and grip levels were low for the morning session, but improved throughout the day and, despite a small problem for Heikki with a couple of minutes left in the afternoon session, all programs were completed and both cars were again ahead of the other new teams at the close of FP2.

Chief Technical Officer Mike Gascoyne: “It was a satisfying day today and we achieved everything we wanted to on both cars, despite the fact grip levels were very low in the first session and both Jarno and Heikki were struggling slightly with rear grip. Jarno lost a front strake on his first run of the day and we replaced that quickly for his second run. Over lunch we changed the gear ratios on both cars and sent them out for the beginning of the afternoon session on hard tyres. Heikki pulled over after 30 laps as he had a low oil pressure warning and he stopped the car, but it’s not a problem and we’re looking forward to getting out again tomorrow.”

Jarno Trulli: “A trouble free day today which is good, and hopefully the whole weekend will go without any issues. I’m still struggling a bit with the setup, finding a balance that really lets me get the best out of the car, but we tested different tyres today and focused mainly on our setup for the race, so I’m reasonably happy. Grip levels improved throughout the day and our lap times showed that by the end of the day the circuit was really bedding in.”

Heikki Kovalainen: “It was good today, apart from the small problem we had at the end of the day which was nothing major. The engine switched itself off because we had an oil pressure warning but we got through the whole program today and I think we’re in good shape for tomorrow and for the race.”

Virgin Racing Cosworth

Free Practice for Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix got underway at the Shanghai International Circuit today and Virgin Racing enjoyed another positive start to its racing weekend. Timo Glock and Lucas di Grassi ticked all the boxes on their planned programmes to complete a combined total of 101 laps.

The optimum set-up proved to be a constantly moving target, with the task made all the more challenging by the very bumpy track here, particularly turn 1, which appeared to cause a few issues for a number of teams.

This morning Timo and Lucas ended the session 20th and 21st after posting 19 and 27 laps respectively. This afternoon, they were 20th and 22nd on the timesheets having notched up a further 27 laps and 28 laps.

Timo Glock: “We made some good progress over the course of the two sessions and generally we have managed to improve the car quite a lot through the day. The characteristics of this track are proving a little difficult for us. There are more low speed corners and we seemed to struggle with these a little bit, but it might just be the grip level. We now need to look at everything we have learned today and make sure we choose the right direction. There’s a lot of data to go through tonight but I’m optimistic that we can have a good weekend from here. I’m looking forward to the rest of it.”

Lucas di Grassi: “We had a very good day today, completing 55 laps - almost a race distance. That was our main objective today - to get through our programme and identify any potential issues. Everything is looking good so far and there is still a lot of performance we can bring to the car. I hope we can just get better and better tomorrow and in the race and ensure we finish the weekend as the best of the new teams once again.”

Nick Wirth, Technical Director: “We’ve had a positive but eventful day today. Shanghai is the first circuit we’ve come to where we’ve had less than perfect track data for our Simulators and along with some of the other teams we were caught out by the huge bump going into turn 1. We had been a bit brave on our initial front ride height, which resulted in Timo’s front wing hitting the ground hard, necessitating a wing change. However, once we’d allowed for this bump in the set-up, the rest of the day was trouble-free, and our improving reliability allowed us to try a range of tests that we haven’t previously been able to do. The circuit is extremely bumpy and we’ve explored different ways to cope with this using the tools on the car that we have available right now. Tonight we have a lot of data that we can analyse, and I’m sure we’ll make more progress tomorrow.”

HRT F1 Cosworth

Karun Chandhok in chassis F110-01 #20 completed 20 laps in the morning session, for a best lap time of 1.43.949 while Bruno Senna in chassis F110-02 #21 ran 23 laps with a best time of 1.43.875

In the second ninety minutes afternoon free practice session, in preparation of the Sunday race and its 56 laps, the track remained dry and temperatures raised to 17°C. The two cars managed to work smoothly over the two sessions which is very positive ahead of a technical race this week-end and covered a distance of 32 additional laps each.

Dr. Colin Kolles: “Both Karun and Bruno have put as many miles as we could on the car. With their engineers, they covered the testing program and drove good laps. We used the second session to test a number of final details in order to improve the car’s performance. The practice sessions were positive for the team in view of the qualifying session. We need to continue to improve the car. But I am pleased to see the team pushing so hard even if it is a steep learning curve.”

Karun Chandhok: “It was a good practice. We could learn things about the circuit and we got the base line. Unfortunately, we noticed a lot of graining on the front tyres. The second practice was useful for us as I could cover 52 laps today and some long runs.

Bruno Senna: “The first practice session was okay. We had no problems. Although we are a bit struggling with the air temperature here as it was not very warm. We experienced therefore a low grip level and we have to work on this despite a dusty track. The second session was a good practice again. We fulfilled our program without any problems. We are looking forward to the qualifying tomorrow.”