Friday: The Mercedes GP enjoys Istanbul
The two free practice sessions of the day took place under opposite weather conditions. Rain was present in the morning while the sun appeared in the afternoon. Like many teams, Mercedes GP took the opportunity to test the rain tires provided by Pirelli and tried various settings for these track conditions. The outcome is rather positive as the W02 proved to be competitive in both sessions. Nico Rosberg achieved the second-fastest time both on wet and dry tracks. Michael Schumacher was not far behind, finishing 3rd and 4th respectively in the two sessions of the day.
Nico Rosberg – 2nd and 2nd:
« We had a good start to the weekend and I am optimistic for tomorrow. We had a productive afternoon and tried a lot of things on the car. I didn’t have many problems with the tires on the long runs and I was surprised by the grip level, which is much higher than we expected. The wet tires also had a lot of grip this morning. I am happy with what we learned and I think tomorrow and Sunday will be very interesting. »
Michael Schumacher – 3rd and 4th:
We had a positive Friday and it was particularly good to be able to test both the wet and dry tires. I hadn’t really tested the wet tires yet, so I’m glad I had the opportunity to use them.
My sessions were eventful with three spin-outs in turn 11. Our car is confirming the progress we saw in China. We still have some issues with the setup, but I am confident that we will have that sorted out by tomorrow.
Ross Brawn:
« We had a relatively good first day, and it was nice to get a lot of work done. We had a good opportunity to see how the car performed in wet conditions this morning. It was also the first time Michael drove the car in these conditions, so it’s a good thing considering the conditions will remain mixed for the rest of the weekend. »
Then we had a good session on the dry this afternoon and completed a lot of work with different fuel loads. The balance of the car is not perfect yet and there is work to be done on that, but the team and the drivers did a good job today.
