Photo: Daimler AG
This weekend's UBS Chinese Grand Prix just had its first practice sessions earlier today, and the Mercedes-AMG Petronas drivers benefited from a more sundry performance compared to what they had achieved in the first three races of the 2014 Formula 1 season.
Despite a couple of technical problems and the rest of the field appearing to close in on the Mercedes-AMG W01 single-seater as far as performance goes, both Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg managed the first and third fastest lap time, respectively.
Lewis Hamilton: “It was quite a difficult day today as we missed some of this morning’s session which put us on the back foot slightly, but we were glad to get some laps in the second session at least. We’re not too happy with the balance of the car at the moment, so we need to go and work on that. This circuit is particularly hard on tires, as it has been every year, so we need to be prepared for that. A few of the other teams look to have improved in terms of pace, which is great as it means we will have a fight. There’s a lot of work to do and the guys are already here early and working late, but I’m confident that we can make some improvements going into tomorrow.”
As it seems, apart from the rear suspension acting up on Hamilton's car in the morning and the fact that the front tires of both cars experienced some graining after a number of laps, the performance is still up there, but their competitors have started to catch up even more.
Nico Rosberg: “It’s a unique weekend here in China; normally we struggle with rear tyre wear but here it seems to be the front tires that I struggle with. You have so many long corners; you are just waiting and waiting and waiting to finish the corners. There is a lot of energy spent adapting to this situation. There is a need to be creative and look at the set-up, because graining can be very bad. We are still looking good performance wise, in terms of one-lap pace and on the long runs. But other teams were watching us and pushing a lot as we saw with Fernando today. I guess that my main rival for a win will again be my teammate, so I’m looking forward to the next in-house battle.”
It should be noted that both Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton will run with all-new Hybrid Power Units (engines, that is) this weekend, as the first ones already completed their running cycle pretty much flawlessly during the first three races of this year's championship.
Lewis Hamilton: “It was quite a difficult day today as we missed some of this morning’s session which put us on the back foot slightly, but we were glad to get some laps in the second session at least. We’re not too happy with the balance of the car at the moment, so we need to go and work on that. This circuit is particularly hard on tires, as it has been every year, so we need to be prepared for that. A few of the other teams look to have improved in terms of pace, which is great as it means we will have a fight. There’s a lot of work to do and the guys are already here early and working late, but I’m confident that we can make some improvements going into tomorrow.”
As it seems, apart from the rear suspension acting up on Hamilton's car in the morning and the fact that the front tires of both cars experienced some graining after a number of laps, the performance is still up there, but their competitors have started to catch up even more.
It should be noted that both Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton will run with all-new Hybrid Power Units (engines, that is) this weekend, as the first ones already completed their running cycle pretty much flawlessly during the first three races of this year's championship.
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