MERCEDES
Nico Rosberg
It was a good day today. The afternoon session wasn’t very useful as the conditions are so hot and really quite different to what we see in the evening – which is of course when qualifying and the race will be held. That makes the second session very valuable and we learned a lot – for example that Ferrari are very good on the long runs. On qualifying laps we look quicker but on race pace they are really strong so we will have to do a lot of work tonight to find the perfect setup. Tyre wise it’s all been pretty straightforward. Both compounds are robust – it’s just their absolute pace that should be a factor. Qualifying will be important as we saw in the last few races. But I’m feeling good about my pace on one lap and the long runs too so confidence is high.
Lewis Hamilton
We’ve had a good day in terms of getting the long runs in and understanding the tyres. Working on race runs was the priority – although we did also show strong single lap pace. On my fastest lap I locked up into Turn 8 so lost out a bit there and there’s a few areas I need to work on to find a bit more time. It’s difficult to say how long each compound will go but the option feels great. From what I can see it shouldn’t be as tough as it was in Malaysia from a tyre perspective and we’re definitely in a better position this weekend than at the same stage in Sepang. Despite that, I’m sure it will still be very close with Ferrari, who look very good on the long runs. Generally, though, it’s been a positive start.
RED BULL RACING
Daniel Ricciardo
I had an alright session, I think we’re looking pretty good. We’re more or less where we expect to be. We’re a little bit more competitive in cooler conditions so the night session should be good. The tyre degradation is quite high here, it will probably be a two stop race, but we’ll see. It’s going to be windy tomorrow so we might have some sand on the track.
Daniil Kvyat
It was a normal long run for me and we managed to get some good laps in. Tyre degradation was as expected but we were disrupted by the red flag. There is some wind expected for tomorrow and we’ll see how that affects the car behaviour. It was a good Friday for us overall.
LOTUS F1 TEAM
Jolyon Palmer
It was a great session for me and it felt far smoother than last time out. It was great to be back in the car so soon after Shanghai as I’ve been able to maintain a good momentum. I set my quickest time quite early in the session, so I didn’t stay as high up the order with the long runs later in the session, but I was happy with my progress. The car felt improved since China, with similar characteristics enabling me to feel comfortable and push. I’m happy with today’s work.”
Romain Grosjean: “It was a frustrating session for me as I couldn’t get the car exactly how I wanted it, but we can see from Pastor’s lap time that the pace is there once we get the set-up working. The circuit is always great to drive and we run qualifying and the race in similar conditions to those we saw in FP2 today, so we really need to get the car where we want it overnight.”
Pastor Maldonado: “I was very happy with the car in the hot conditions of the first session and also in the cooler, later session too. This is very positive as we didn’t have to spend too much time working on refining the set-up for the different track temperature but could work on our usual tyre evaluations. The track condition was good, even at the start of FP1 so we were able to have a productive day. I think we have good potential here this weekend.”
WILLIAMS MARTINI RACING
Valtteri Bottas
It has been a good Friday. The car feels good but it’s only Friday so it is hard to compare us against our competitors. We are still focusing on tyre performance in a race situation and have made progress, especially with the option tyre, although I think there is a bit more performance to find. We look quite strong for qualifying, but the race pace is important and we need to work hard tonight on this area.
Felipe Massa
I struggled with the balance of the car today but the team have shown there is good pace. We need to work hard tonight and make the right changes to get the car balance right, and then show the pace that Valtteri has shown today. We have also been working on tyre performance and have certainly made steps in the right direction.
FORCE INDIA
Nico Hulkenberg
It was quite a straightforward Friday. This morning we did a few aero tests to continue our process of understanding the car and learning about it, exploring different ways to optimise our performance. Our mileage was good, so we should have plenty of data to analyse tonight. The afternoon session went quite smoothly as well: we were able to use both tyre compounds and completed short and long runs. We got all we needed from the session, so that we could skip the final run and save a bit of engine life. We have a fairly clear idea of where we stand and of our performance level, so tonight it will be a matter of tweaking our set-up to improve the balance and be more competitive tomorrow.
Sergio Perez
It’s been a good day for us, despite the final incident with Vettel. I was trying to overtake Nasr and, when I got to the apex of turn one, the gap I had on Sebastian was gone, as he had a car problem, and he made light contact with my right rear. After the session he came to see me and said he had an issue with the brakes. It was an unfortunate incident but nothing more than that. Before that moment, we had done a good job throughout the sessions and I feel we have made another step forward. We tried some different set-up options and we had the opportunity to make some big changes between the two sessions. We seem to be a bit more competitive compared to the previous couple of races, especially over the longer runs, but it’s too early to make any predictions.
SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO
Carlos Sainz
Even if we didn’t have much track time this morning in FP1 and had to face some brake issues during FP2, in general it’s been a decent Friday. The car feels nice to drive and we don’t have any major problems, so we just need to keep working hard. It’s my first time driving here and I like the track very much, I’m enjoying it, especially during the night, the circuit looked stunning.
Max Verstappen
It was a bit of an up-and-down day. I think the first practice in general was quite alright and I used it to get used to the track and didn’t take too many risks. Everything felt good and I like the track, so that’s important. Not being very happy with the set of brakes, during FP2 we decided to change it and luckily it all felt better towards the end of the session, but I carried on taking it easy. It was a bit of a scrappy practice but now we have all night to prepare for tomorrow and that’s what we’ll do.
SAUBER F1 TEAM
Marcus Ericsson
The first session was not ideal, as I did not feel comfortable in the car. In FP2 we made some adjustments and it was working better again. We still have some parts to optimise, but overall it was a good step forward. It was quite a decent session in which we collected valuable data. We did short and long runs on the soft and medium compounds. I think we are where we want to be. For tomorrow we have to make sure that we put it all together, and then we will be strong again.
Felipe Nasr
It was a good day. The car was behaving quite well during both practice sessions. During the first practice session we had a few issues with the brakes. After that was sorted out, I felt the car was going in the right direction. In the late afternoon we were able to confirm this as we had a good pace. We also seem to have quite a reasonable balance for the car during the long-runs. Overall, I think we anticipated some changes here in Bahrain so prioritised traction and the braking zones. Tomorrow we have to make sure we go in the same direction.
MCLAREN-HONDA
Jenson Button
I guess it wasn’t a great day, but at least we got a lot of useful data on the car. The slightly frustrating thing, though, is that both cars were set up quite differently today, to get comparative aero info, and we weren’t really able to benefit from that on my car. Hopefully, we won’t have further issues; that way, I can get some decent running tomorrow so as to see what the car is doing. Whatever happens, though, it’s not going to be an easy weekend. We knew that already. And qualifying will undoubtedly be tricky again!
Fernando Alonso
Today I had a very smooth day, and I was happy with the car in every condition, so tomorrow we just need to make sure we optimise the performance of the car and try to get a good result. Still, today is only Friday, and we saw in Shanghai that we had a decent performance on the Friday but then not so good on the Saturday – due to the fact other people were running more fuel than us on the Friday. Even so, we can see that we’re getting closer and closer to the mid-pack with every race. Definitely we’re moving in the right direction, we just need to do it that bit quicker! We don’t have any ‘magic bullets’ here, since we’re only four days after the last race, but we have some little tweaks that are putting some performance in the car. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the same for Jenson today, so we’re missing some information, but we’ll try to recover tomorrow.
