Sergio Perez Chassis 02
FP1 1:41.075 P13 23 laps
FP2 1:38.806 P14 31 laps
Sergio: “It wasn’t the easiest day for me. The car had some issues this morning and I couldn’t get comfortable with the balance. We think there could have been some damage. The afternoon was a bit better, but we had to work really hard to get on top of the balance issues I had with the car. I still think we can be in the top ten tomorrow because we normally pick up some speed between Friday and Saturday when we’ve gone through all the data. ”
Esteban Ocon Chassis 03
FP1 1:40.102 P5 26 laps
FP2 1:38.402 P10 33 laps
Esteban: “It was a solid day and being fifth in the first session shows that we are in good shape. The car was strong this evening too. We know where we can improve and I think we can find some more performance tonight before qualifying. The midfield is really close, but I think we can target Q3. The race pace looks competitive as well and I think we can end the season on a high note.”
Otmar Szafnauer, Team Principal and CEO
“It was a bit of a mixed day. We had two routine sessions on Esteban’s side of the garage, where everything ran to plan, gathering set-up information and understanding the tyre compounds. We struggled a little more with the balance on Sergio’s car at first, but we were able to improve it for FP2. There is plenty of work to do ahead of qualifying. The conditions varied significantly between FP1 and FP2 here, with the track 15 degrees cooler in the evening. FP2 focused our minds on understanding the conditions for qualifying and the race, but we’ll need to offset all our data for FP3 when the track will be hot again. That’s the same for everyone and we’ll need to do our best to be ahead of a very tight midfield.”