Team reaction after day one in Silverstone (part 2)

Williams Cosworth

Sam Michael, Technical Director: We’ve had a good day evaluating set-up and tyres, as well as testing the new parts that we’ve brought here. The upgrades all worked as expected, including the exhaust blown diffuser, so we will be keeping that on both cars for the rest of the weekend. Nico’s car had a gearbox oil leak between sessions which cost him some time at the start of the second practice session.

Rubens Barrichello: I was very surprised by Silverstone today. I really love this circuit, it is one of my favourites, but it’s really, really bumpy. It’s quite odd and I’m sorry to say this because I’m usually such a fan. We weren’t anticipating such a bumpy track, so we had to make a lot of unexpected set-up changes in response. The team handled it well though and did a good job today.

Nico Hulkenberg: It went ok today. We worked through our run plan and covered everything we needed to, even though I was delayed starting the afternoon session. The car had a gearbox oil leak but the mechanics managed to fix it really quickly so I didn’t lose a great deal of time. I’m not quite happy with the car as it is at the moment, so we’ll be working hard tonight, analysing the data so we improve for tomorrow.

Sauber Ferrari

The team had a full programme to go through during the first two free practice sessions ahead of the British Grand Prix in Silverstone. Besides the usual evaluation of the two tyre compounds and the job of getting familiar with the new 800 metres long loop in sector three, the team also used a new front wing and lost some track time because of a technical problem on Kamui Kobayashi’s car. Kobayashi was 14th in the second session, and Pedro de la Rosa was 17th.

Kamui Kobayashi: “After we lost some track time we tried to catch up with the programme, and I think we managed that quite well, especially with the short runs. We obviously have to improve our pace everywhere, but I found the balance of the car not too bad. I had only a little understeer and I think we can fix it with some set up changes. The tyre situation with both compounds looks okay to me. The new track section is a bit bumpy and dusty, but it will get cleaner.”

Pedro de la Rosa: “I must admit it was not an easy day for me. The front end of the car doesn’t react the way I want it to. I really have a lot of understeer. It is worse in the very high and very low speed corners. I find it difficult to make the car turn. We have to look into the data now and find a solution.”

James Key, Technical Director: “It was a fairly busy day. In the beginning the track was quite slippery, and therefore we did not get much work done in the first session. The new lay out of the circuit looks quite good, but there is also a significant difference in grip level between the old and the new part. The problem on Kamui’s car, which occurred at the very end of the first session, initially appeared to be engine related. Now it looks like it was an electronic issue, which we only found at the beginning of the second session. However, our main target is now to find the right balance for low and high speed consistency.”

Toro Rosso Ferrari

Sebastien Buemi: “I think today was quite good for us, at least better than it seems from looking at our times. In general I was happy with the car and we saw some useful improvements from the changes we made to the set-up and another positive factor is that we managed a good long stint on the Option tyre. I am pretty confident for the rest of the weekend, but we must continue to work hard. I enjoyed the new circuit layout, as the new section is attractive, although there is a big bump entering Turn 11. As usual, after FP2, we must now make a good job of drawing the right conclusions from the data we have gathered.”

Jaime Alguersuari: “Another new circuit in an F1 car for me, even if part of it is new to everyone. So, much of today consisted of learning the track and finding out how to set up the car. On the tyre front, we did a useful comparison between the two compounds, so it was an information gathering day and I expect a lot more from tomorrow. Before then, I need to look at the data to see where I am losing out to my team-mate. This year, every time we have been at a circuit that I had not driven before in an F1 car, I improved a lot from Friday to Saturday so I expect this will again be the case this weekend. In general, I enjoyed the circuit, apart from the big bump at Turn 11.”

Laurent Mekies (Chief Engineer): “Our main objective today was to complete as many laps as possible to learn the new track layout, which is presenting everyone with an interesting and enjoyable challenge in terms of car set-up. We had a trouble free day and tried various set-ups on both cars, so now we have to look at the data from both cars and come up with the best solution in order to make the most of tomorrow. Looking at the lap times, it is clear that the field is more spaced out than in Valencia which highlights the fact this is a more demanding circuit that shows up the strengths and weaknesses of the various team packages.”

Lotus Cosworth

Lotus Racing’s Silverstone Friday Practice debut was a day of mixed fortunes, with Heikki Kovalainen completing 41 laps and finishing under a second behind Alguersuari’s Toro Rosso, but Fairuz Fauzy and Jarno Trulli both suffering technical issues that curtailed their running.

Heikki Kovalainen: “It felt fine out there today. I had just one problem at the end with the power steering, but that was the only issue with my car. I’m not sure this circuit suits our car as well as it does with some of the top cars, but compared to the other new teams I think we’re in good shape.

“The new layout is nothing like the old circuit – now it feels like it’s pretty straightforward. It’s quite bumpy, and the corners are pretty simple, not like the old circuit where you got on the throttle and could find a really good line through the corners. I have no problem with the circuit, I just preferred the old one. ”

Fairuz Fauzy: “First it was just great to be out on track at Silverstone – it was such an honour, and something that will stay with me for ever. We had a bit of a problem with the engine at the start of the session, which was a little unexpected, but the team did an amazing job to change the engine during the session in less than an hour. This meant I had a good 40 minutes with the car, and in that time I could see we’ve made some big steps forward."

Jarno Trulli: “I can’t say much about today really – we had a problem with the gearbox that the guys spent most of the session trying to fix, but then it was clear it couldn’t be done in time for today so we’ll just focus on tomorrow, and hope the luck changes.”

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: “It’s great to be back at Silverstone, but it was a difficult first day at the office for us. We had Fairuz driving for the first session and unfortunately, just before the session started, we had an airbox fire which meant we had to change the engine. This obviously limited his running but when we were able to get him out for the second half of the session, he once again did a great job, taking the car through all the engine tests, so thanks to him.

“With Jarno, we’d had to change the gearbox between the sessions, but unfortunately a bearing failure that we were unable to fix brought his session to an early end, so apologies to him for that. We’ll work hard to put it right tomorrow.

“Heikki ran through his whole programme without any real problems, but he had to stop at the end of the session with a hydraulics problem. We could see from his times that, performance-wise, we’re looking good - we’ve just got to make sure we run reliably through the next couple of days.”

Virgin Racing Cosworth

A typically un-British summer’s day meant that Virgin Racing’s first ever session on home soil would be on a dry track, although the expectation was that most of the action would take place during the second half of first practice. And so it proved, with Lucas venturing on to the circuit only for a few single laps to gather aero data while a small leak was rectified on Timo’s car. The session was the first opportunity to evaluate the aero upgrades on the cars for this weekend, and Timo quickly showed that they were definitely a good step in the right direction. Some dramatic television shots showed that the car was bottoming on the new section of the track, information which the engineers would take into account while deciding on an initial set-up for second free practice. Timo and Lucas finished the session in 20th and 21st positions.

In the second session both cars ran well on the Prime tyre, heading the timesheet for the new teams for most of the session. A switch to Options didn’t produce the expected improvement for Lucas though, and Timo had to revert to the older specification front wing after a minor ‘off’ in the high-speed Becketts complex, which meant he was unable to extract the best from the softer compound. At the end of the session, Lucas and Timo were again 20th and 21st.

Timo Glock: “A difficult day for me. We had a few problems in the first session with a fuel leak, which cost us pretty much the whole session - I only got two runs at the end. In the second session we had to change the set-up quite a lot, which took up nearly half of the practice. I completed two productive tests but unfortunately the front wing broke over the kerb, so I had to go back to the old one and run the soft tyre towards the end of the session which cost us a lot of performance compared to our new spec. It hasn’t been the smooth day we hoped for but I’m confident that tomorrow will bring better things.”

Lucas di Grassi: “We’ve had a very productive day today. We’ve done a lot of work with the new upgrades and the car was behaving as expected throughout the sessions. I’m very happy that we are getting closer to Lotus and we are ready to go for tomorrow. I am confident we can make another step forward for qualifying.”

Nick Wirth, Technical Director: “A fascinating and encouraging day. We did a series of aero tests today that have proved conclusively that we’ve made the expected step forwards in downforce which is consistent with our digital aero process. In fact the step is so significant that it caused a number of set-up issues that we’re trying to address. Lucas had a steady and productive day, with the set-up direction evolving as he’d found on the simulators this week, which is great news. Timo had a tricky Friday, starting with a fuel leak caused by a pinched O-ring delaying his start, and a lengthy set-up change taking up some valuable track time later on. Unfortunately he had an off prior to trying the option tyres which broke his new front wing and our spare wing hadn’t quite made it to the track in time for him to use. Nevertheless we have the spare now and we’ll look to improve the set-up again overnight.”

HRT F1 Cosworth

At the tenth race of its short history, Hispania Racing, HRT F1 Team, made its debut at the “Home of British Motor Racing” in Silverstone. In the morning session, Karun Chandhok ended up on position 22 clocking a best lap time of 1.38.735 and his teammate Sakon Yamamoto, who is celebrating his 28th birthday today, finished 24th with a lap time of 1.39.673. Both drivers could improve their lap times in the second practice and in total, the Indian and the Japanese added 107 laps on the team’s tally. At the end of the afternoon session, Karun Chandhok was 22nd (1.37.019) and Sakon Yamamoto 23rd (1.38.303).

After the second practice, Bruno Senna said that he respects the team’s reasons, thanked for the support and is now looking forward to get back to his seat in the German GP at Hockenheim in two weeks.

Dr Colin Kolles, Team Principal: “’We are quite happy with our performance today. Everything worked well and with the small technical changes we could improve our cars. Both of our drivers, Karun Chandhok and Sakon Yamamoto, could do many laps in the practice sessions. Sakon showed a good performance as well even tough not being in a Formula 1 car for many years. It was the first time for him to drive on the option tyres and it was not easy for him to improve his lap times on this tyre. But now he knows how the tyres are working and he is prepared for the next sessions.”

Karun Chandhok: “It was a very productive day for me today. We did a lot of work with the suspension to improve the car over the bumps. This afternoon especially we made some good progress with the rear end and were able to do a good comparison between the two tyre compounds. Our gap to the other teams is about where we expected coming into the weekend so let’s see how tomorrow goes. I always enjoy driving around Silverstone and despite the bumps it was fun to drive here in a Formula 1 car for the first time.”

Sakon Yamamoto: “It was a brilliant day for me being back in Formula 1 since 2007, especially as it is my birthday today. It is the first time for me to run on a Friday afternoon after I was running for Hispania Racing, HRT F1 Team in Istanbul in practice session one. Today, we could follow our program and everything was going quite well. I tried to understand the differences between the prime and the option tyres because it is the first time for me to drive on the option tyre. But we are well prepared for tomorrow.”