29/09/2017
NEWS STORY
Lewis finished the morning session in P6 with Valtteri in P7 on a damp track at Sepang International Circuit. Lewis ended the day in P6, with Valtteri in P7 when the afternoon session was suspended due to a red flag. Both drivers ran the Intermediate compound tyres in FP1. In FP2, Lewis and Valtteri then used the Soft compound tyres before changing onto the SuperSofts for short and long runs.
Lewis Hamilton: It's been a very difficult day. I've been struggling with the car today, so we have to review and try to understand where we have gone wrong with the balance. We're hoping that we're able to find our bearings overnight and regroup for tomorrow. I had a great group of people who were in front of my garage today all day long, sending really positive energy. So a big thank you to everyone there and I look forward to seeing you tomorrow!
Valtteri Bottas: Those were obviously tricky practice sessions. We had quite limited running because of the rain in the morning. I also had a bit of an off in FP2 that cost us some time, we lost a few laps because of that. And then there was of course the red flag in the end. We didn't get all the test items tested today, but I think that is going to be the case with all the teams. We're definitely lacking some performance, it seems like Ferrari and Red Bull are very strong. So we have some work to do if we want to be on the front row tomorrow. The car balance itself didn't feel too bad; it's just a question of overall grip. The key area we are going to need to focus on tonight will be getting the maximum out of the tyres over one lap.
Andrew Shovlin: Overall it's been a very challenging day. The car wasn't working as well as it normally has done this year and the drivers were both complaining of very low grip and sliding. The car hasn't looked strong in any conditions, be it on Intermediates or in the dry conditions we had in FP2. So we're looking very carefully at the set-up and the configuration of the car just to try and understand what's gone wrong. We are clearly not getting the most out of the package here. We're going to be working very hard to unpick what we've seen today and come back stronger tomorrow. But at the moment it's clear we've got a lot of work to do if we're to present a good challenge to Ferrari and Red Bull this weekend.