Switzerland

The weather played a key part on the opening day of the eighth leg of the "A1 Grand Prix series". A lot of red flags due to the heavy tropical rain disrupted today's two free practice sessions in Sentul, Indonesia. The overcast but dry conditions of the morning turned into very wet as the first hour-long practice session got underway. It was punctuated by a number of red flags as drivers pushing a bit too hard ended up going off track. Neel Jani finished the first session in seventh place for A1 Team Switzerland. (1.30.166) driving 17 laps.
He finished 19th position (1.30.489) in the second pratice later in the afternoon and the second practice session also took place on a drenched circuit.

With the possibility of more rain this weekend, A1 Team Switzerland concentrated on finding the right set-up for both dry and wet conditions.

Neel Jani commented: "I had expected very hot weather and came early to acclimatise. But the weather conditions are not too hard on us with the rain. However I had to be cautious under the rain with the tires. The circuit is interesting. The car felt good and was handling well despite the slippery conditions and we learnt a lot today whether in the corners or on the long straights. It's a shame there were so many red flags interrupting the day. It was good to get a feel for the new circuit. Tomorrow is the important day. I'm confident we can get a good position in qualifying."

There was no need to take any risks on such a wet track. The rain and many red flags made it difficult to get through much work."

A1 Team Switzerland team principal, Max Welti commented: "This weather is not surprising for the country for the season. There was no need to take any risks on such a wet track and the rain only stopped at the very end of the second session. The rain and many red flags today made it difficult to get through much work as the team did not want Neel to take any unnecessary risks. We will work very hard tomorrow and fight for a good qualifying result."

Ireland

The A1 Team Ireland car of Ralph Firman enjoyed a strong performance throughout Friday practice for the inaugural Indonesian A1 Grand Prix, overcoming the wet conditions to be comfortably quickest in first practice and using second practice to refine the car's set-up on old tyres and concentrate on pit stop practice. The 30 year old enjoyed his first experience of the Sentul Circuit and the team is now looking forward to a strong run in final practice and qualifying tomorrow.

Ralph Firman: "I like the circuit, it's good to drive and there's a nice combination of quick straights and medium-speed corners. I didn't have any problems and we got through the changes we wanted to in order to set up the car. There was no point using up another set of tyres in the second practice as the wear rate is high here and we need to have as many options as possible going through the rest of the weekend. I am looking forward to tomorrow, whatever the conditions."

Andy Miller, Technical Director: "We did all we could today and everything ran according to plan. Obviously the big question is whether the wet conditions will continue throughout the weekend, but it seems likely we'll be seeing more rain at some point and so today was useful in that respect. We know what we want to do tomorrow, and Ralph's right on the pace so we look in good shape."

Mark Gallagher, Team Principal: "The objectives for today were to learn the circuit, develop the set-up in the right direction for this track and undertake pit stop practice throughout. We achieved all of that without incident and Ralph was clearly the pace-setter from the start of the first session. We decided not to push for lap times in the second session because we know where we are with the car and wanted to give the crew regular pit stop practice – a key ingredient in preparing for Sunday's race."

France

A1 Team France driver Nicolas Lapierre set about a careful first day back behind the wheel of his 520-hp car as heavy rain made conditions in Sentul very difficult. Friday practice was disrupted by rain and many interruptions due to other cars spinning. A1 Team France finished ninth in the first practice session and fifteenth in the second session.

"The track is very interesting, but the driving conditions were changing all the time which made it very difficult," said Lapierre. "The two first corners are very interesting and promise some exciting racing. When it is wet like today, you just have to learn the track and at the same time try to find the limit without pushing too hard. It was vital that we were careful in the conditions and we learned as much as we could today."

Jean-Paul Driot, team principal, A1 Team France commented: "Our goal as always is to do our best and fight for the win. Given the wet conditions we had to be very careful not to make any costly mistakes. As this is the home race for A1 Team Indonesia we hope to see a huge crowd this weekend whatever the weather conditions."

Germany