10/06/2016
NEWS STORY
Lewis topped both sessions with Nico second in FP1 and third in FP2. A 1:14.212 from Lewis in the afternoon session saw him eclipse the 2015 pole time by 0.181s. Both drivers ran the SuperSoft and UltraSoft compound tyre in the morning session, the Soft and UltraSoft in the afternoon session.
Lewis Hamilton: It's been an awesome day. This has always been a strong circuit for me and I'm really enjoying being back here again. I've generally been really happy with the car so far. The focus today has been on working hard to make sure we have a good understanding of the tyres. I'm enjoying myself and hoping the weather stays like this over the weekend for all the fans out there in the grandstands.
Nico Rosberg: Generally I feel good in the car. But getting the tyres working is not so straightforward here, so that needs some further analysis tonight. I lost most of my time in the first sector - possibly because of tyre temperatures. So, that part of the lap is the main area to work on and find some improvement for qualifying. The long runs have looked good so far, though. It's been great to see so many spectators out there already today and I'm sure there will be an awesome atmosphere over the weekend.
Paddy Lowe, Executive Director (Technical): It's great to have some decent weather after freezing conditions yesterday - particularly for the fans, who have come out in their thousands. The main interest of the day was to see how the three different tyre compounds functioned on low and high fuel. We managed to complete our programme without any major issues and both drivers are fairly happy with the balance of the car. It's difficult to compare lap times precisely with everybody running slightly different programmes - but our performance looks reasonably strong. We've still got a lot to do to be fully prepared for qualifying - and in a shorter timescale than normal too. We've had normal running hours today - but curfew begins an hour earlier tonight, as we lose an hour tomorrow with the early start to FP3 and Qualifying. The team in the garage have a tough evening ahead to get the cars prepared.
Check out our Friday gallery, here.