03/07/2015
NEWS STORY
Silverstone's high-speed sweeps, and changeable windy conditions, meant that neither Fernando Alonso nor Jenson Button was able to fine-tune their MP4-30s to their liking during today's free practice sessions.
Jenson was delayed during FP1 by an O-ring problem in the air system, which required the floor to be removed to effect a fix. In addition, the team opted to run a limited-mileage programme today, focusing on completing shorter runs in order to evaluate parts and set-up.
With both drivers taking issue with the balance, it'll be a busy night for the engineers as we aim to refine the car ahead of qualifying tomorrow.
Fernando Alonso: "Today was more or less as we expected - we did limited running, and just tried to get some quality laps under our belts today. It wasn't very easy for anyone today - we saw a lot of people going off - but that's how it is. Hopefully we can find something extra for tomorrow.
"We'll take things a step at a time: getting into Q2 will be tough - we need to beat the Saubers if we want to get out of Q1 - so we'll do our very best tomorrow and then focus on finishing the race.
"We're in a difficult situation but we'll try to get the maximum out of the car. We tested a lot of parts today and I'm sure we'll make progress tomorrow."
Jenson Button: "We had very limited running today, not all of which was planned - we had to take a little longer than anticipated to change a few parts - but we made a little step with the set-up at the end of the afternoon. There's still more pace to be found.
"For us, this weekend will be about understanding the package - every time we get out of the car, we make a step with the balance and the set-up. We're not going to be looking for points on Sunday, but this can still be a useful weekend for us.
"Tonight, I think we'll make some reasonably big set-up changes, and we should be better tomorrow. I'd love to have a good result in front of my home crowd, but that's going to be difficult this year."
Eric Boullier, Racing director: "We knew that Silverstone might be a circuit on which our car could struggle, and today has indicated that we were not wrong in positing that prognostication.
"Additionally, we encountered a couple of niggling technical issues during today's running, which inhibited our ability to consolidate our set-up direction.
"That being the case, we have a lot of work to do this evening, in an effort to optimise our preparations for FP3 and qualifying tomorrow, and there are clearly areas in which progress can be made. So let's see what tomorrow brings."
Yasuhisa Arai, Honda R&D senior managing officer - chief officer of motorsport: "After today's practice sessions there isn't much to say from Honda's point of view.
"I'm looking forward to seeing what the aerodynamic updates can bring over the course of the race weekend - today, unfortunately, we didn't get enough track time to fully understand their potential when combined with the power unit.
"We know that more aero testing will be carried out tomorrow, but this track is flat, slippery and heavily affected by the prevailing wind direction, so we believe it'll be necessary to closely monitor the movements of the MGU-K."
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