Just to give you a few hints about what happened today, we're going to remind you that Force India's Adrian Sutil and Mercedes' Nico Rosberg topped the first two practice sessions on Friday, that Red Bull's Mark Webber experienced gearbox problems with his RB6 and missed out on plenty of action during P2, that Virgin Racing and Lotus F1 were more than 6 seconds off the pace in both sessions and that Bruno Senna's session ended when a wheelnut broke down and his car was sent to the run-off area following Turn 1.
Additionally, Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi failed to get out on the track during P2 due to a problem at the rear of his STR5, while Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastian Vettel each made some excursions off the track in the afternoon. All in all, it was a busy day at Sakhir, with teams trying to test the tires and different race and qualifying setups for the weekend.
So here's what some of them had to say about it:
Felipe Massa: "We worked a lot on finding the right balance on the car in race trim and on comparing the two types of tyre, running with various fuel levels, although never going for a quick time. I am quite happy with what we have seen today, even if it is difficult to get an accurate picture of how competitive we are compared to the others. We will definitely face stiff competition from many teams, but we were preparing as well as possible for Sunday’s race and tomorrow morning, we will work on qualifying. I’ve got a bit of a temperature today, but I feel 100% for this start to the season."
Mark Webber: “Not such a good day and not enough mileage. We missed out a bit this afternoon; I had a gearbox problem, so the team made a precautionary stop with the car which ended P2 early. We'll have to regroup and get what we can out of today - we'll be focusing on qualifying in tomorrow's practice. We still learnt some stuff today and Seb looked at the tyres. You can already see that it's going to be bloody competitive this year, it's going to be a good fight out there.”
Nico Rosberg: “We improved the car over the course of the day but it didn't feel great initially with the new track, lower downforce and the conditions were very sandy this morning," Rosberg explained. So we had a few balance issues to work on but it came together very well this afternoon. There are areas where we can still improve but we have a good comparison with the tyre compounds and on the long runs. Overall we learnt a great deal today so it's a positive start to the weekend.”
Lewis Hamilton: “Out on track, it's been very hot so tyre degradation of both compounds has been pretty high. But I think the degradation is something we can handle; you build it into your driving style and moderate the approach to each lap. Still, it's difficult to know what lap time to target when you're on a long run. The less you push at the beginning of a stint, the more there is left to push at the end. But it's difficult to know exactly, and we're still trying to understand that.”
Jenson Button: “Today's shown us that looking after the rear tyres is very difficult here, especially on the softer compound. So you find yourself driving with a lot of oversteer through most of the stint. The new section of track is very bumpy. Turns Six and Seven are particularly tough because you're trying to brake as late as you can, and, if you do that, the car hits the ground, you bounce all over the place and it's very difficult to see where you're going. So you have to brake earlier, and more gently, so the front doesn't dip through that part of the corner - and that positions you better for the next turn.”
Vitaly Petrov: “It was a great feeling to be out in the car for the first time this morning, but we had a busy programme so I got straight down to work. We had a few small problems to begin with, but we will work hard overnight to try and improve the car. My first F1 qualifying session tomorrow will be very interesting.”
Adrian Sutil: “It's our goal to get two cars through to Q3 for this weekend and I think we now have a very good baseline with the car and good downforce compared to last year. We can be a top 10 runner with this car this year and myself and Tonio are working well together. If we can qualify in the top ten now it can lead to decent points, which is, at the end of the day, what we want to do consistently this season. I would say it's a promising start to get there, for sure.”
Sebastien Buemi: “The changes to the track were much as I expected and there is a big bump at Turn 6. There are no passing places in the new section, but it makes for a longer track which is more interesting to drive. You need to be competitive in Sector 2 for a good lap time, which means you must compromise between needing high downforce for this slow part, while less downforce will make you quicker in Sectors 1 and 2.”
Jaime Alguersuari: “A good day in which we did all the laps we could, trying many different things. I think we improved during the day, but it's hard to know where you are with the wide range of fuel loads being used. I feel the performance is there and if we have another nice day tomorrow, then we should be able to get the most out of the car. The track was very green this morning, but it started to rubber in this afternoon. The new section is nothing special and very slow, but I knew that from working on the simulator, which meant I already had an idea where to turn in and where were the braking points.”
Pedro de la Rosa: “Well, it was not easy. We managed to make the car feel better during the day, but we definitely need to improve the set-up for tomorrow as much as we can. The overall grip level is very low out there and the new part is really bumpy. One bump especially before turn seven I find dangerous because the cars are bottoming there a lot. The heat is no issue at all. I don't regard this circuit as physically very demanding anyway.”
Kamui Kobayashi: “After we lost some track time this morning because of a puncture, we were able to complete our programme in the afternoon. We now have to look at the set-up again. I have the impression the bumpy new infield is pretty difficult for us, but we will work on that. I have no complaints about the heat either, as I definitely prefer it compared to the winter in Europe.”
Lucas di Grassi: "Although a tough day, we actually had a good session this afternoon and got through a lot of things. For me everything is new. I wasn't able to run this morning so the afternoon laps were key to my performance and helping us get started this weekend. The mechanics did a great job running the car and everything seems fine so far. Now we just need to work on car performance, which we clearly haven't been able to optimise at the moment."
Nico Hulkenberg: "It's still very difficult to form a picture of where everyone is at competitively, but I am satisfied that we had a relatively good day today and managed to compete everything we set out to do. The ambition remains the same, to make sure we get through to Q3 and to finish the weekend with some points."
Rubens Barrichello: "Because we had some minor issues in the garage today, we didn't get as much track time as we wanted. We didn't manage to finish our programme, but I am confident tomorrow will be a better day and we will catch up on the lost time. There has been an enormous amount of work and effort from everyone at Williams to get this far, which deserves my thanks."
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