29/07/2011
NEWS STORY
The first two Free Practice sessions for the eleventh round of the 2011 Formula One season took place today at the Hungaroring in Budapest.
After an early installation lap, both Timo Glock and Jerome D'Ambrosio spent part of the morning session conducting aero tests. It wasn't until halfway through the session that Timo established his first timed lap, while Jerome experienced a steering set-up issue which meant that he was only able to set a time in the last 15 minutes. From then on they were able to focus on the car set-up for the weekend ahead. Timo completed 30 laps and Jerome, 22.
In the afternoon, and with the track providing more grip than in the first session, the drivers continued to complete their programme, using the data gathered in the morning session to improve the overall performance of the car. Timo added another 33 laps to his tally while Jerome completed 28 laps.
Timo Glock: "This morning was all about aero runs, which is always useful as we are able to collect plenty of data. In the afternoon we worked on the set-up and on some ideas for tomorrow. The main issue at the moment is the tyres, as they are proving to be quite difficult to handle this week, so we will have to have a good look before tomorrow."
Jerome D'Ambrosio: "It was a pretty good Friday today. We had some useful testing this afternoon and it was good that we didn't see any of the rain that we were expecting. This morning we didn't really work on set-up and instead I concentrated on collecting aero data, but this afternoon we had a good programme and we'll have a lot of data to go through tonight. Overall it was a good day so let's see what tomorrow brings."
John Booth, Team Principal: "It's been a busy Friday for us. In the morning we completed plenty of pre-planned aero tests on both cars. Unfortunately, Jerome's changes took longer than expected and he also had a small issue with the set-up of his steering, but in general it was a positive first session. In the afternoon fortunately the weather remained dry and we were able to continue the set-up work on the two cars. At times in the session, we have had the two cars set up quite differently and we need to analyse carefully the data gathered in order to decide how we approach tomorrow. This weekend the tyres are going to play a big part and this will also influence the decisions we take. It's clear that our pace is not quite what we've been used to for the last few races, so we need to try to add some significant performance to the cars overnight."
To check out our Hungary practice gallery, click here.