Friday: Mercedes in good rhythm
After an encouraging first practice session, Mercedes took advantage of the second free practice session to work on their race pace.
Nico Rosberg – 1st and 19th
« It’s a positive start to the weekend, and we seem to have made some progress with our race pace. I felt comfortable with the car today, and we covered a lot of laps despite the interruptions, which is very good. The tires are holding up well, so it will be interesting to compare their performance once we start working with low fuel levels tomorrow. Overall, I’m very happy ».
Michael Schumacher – 3rd and 20th
« We did a lot of work today. Obviously, we didn’t cover many laps with low fuel, and we mainly focused on heavy fuel loads. Our program was shortened this afternoon due to red flags. That’s why we are at the other end of the timing sheet compared to this morning. All this is encouraging for a weekend where we didn’t come with the highest expectations. We will now sit down and analyze our performance. We hope for another encouraging day tomorrow. »
Ross Brawn
« We had a very good day to start this weekend. The various sessions were obviously interrupted by different incidents, but we mainly focused on our race preparation, especially this afternoon. The limited track time means we didn’t complete any stints with low fuel amounts, but based on our long runs, the car seems fine. »
Norbert Haug
« A good and productive day for us here on Ile Notre-Dame. This afternoon, we focused on race simulations with both types of tires: Nico’s times seem consistent in both cases, but for Michael, there are still some adjustments to be made. Nico’s times this morning were comparable to the best times this afternoon when the track was more adhesive and faster. It is certainly one of our best Fridays. The weather forecast currently predicts a 75% chance of rain at 1:00 PM when the qualifications will begin, and it is possible that this will be the first session taking place on a wet track, as the third free practice session should not be disturbed by rain. Therefore, the qualifications could be more interesting and exciting than usual; I hope we will be able to confirm our good form. »
