Mercedes drivers dominate the top spots after the trials in Brazil

Nico Rosberg was the fastest on Friday at the Interlagos circuit, located in the suburbs of Sao Paulo. The German set the best time in both of the day’s free practice sessions.

He expressed satisfaction even though everything was not perfect, especially with the tires; however, this should not pose an undue problem for the rest of the weekend: « It has been a good day, and we were very fast again on this track. The track has a new surface which has complicated things. It’s smooth and not too bumpy as it was in the past – but the tires blistered due to the high temperatures and the new surface. It was a bit concerning, but we expect it to be cooler this weekend. »

Rosberg knows he has an excellent car once again and should therefore fight against his teammate to clinch pole position, and he therefore expects a great battle.

Lewis Hamilton finished 2nd behind his teammate during FP1 and FP2, but he is not worried at all because he hasn’t managed to string all the sectors together to make a good lap so far: « The car felt good today. There are several improvements we can make, but I haven’t managed to do a perfect lap. It’s not a big issue, though. These are just practice sessions, so that’s why we’re on track, to try things out. »

Toto Wolff, head of competition at Mercedes, on the other hand, was delighted with the day for both star-studded drivers, even though caution is necessary for the future: « It seemed to be a fairly normal day in terms of performance, with Nico and Lewis setting the fastest times in both sessions, but the temperatures were higher than we expect for the rest of the weekend. So we will have to anticipate the developments in our settings in the right way. »