28/08/2020
NEWS STORY
Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance: Both drivers had solid days as we looked at some downforce configurations and general set-up. We had no issues with the cars, and we are now in a good position to push things along tomorrow. Although today was dry for the F1 sessions, the forecast for tomorrow and Sunday remains mixed and we will need to be alive to any rain during qualifying and the race.
The cars are running well, and the drivers are enjoying each lap of this great circuit. We need to find a bit more pace if we are to compete with Haas and Alfa Romeo tomorrow, but we have a good baseline on which to build that performance.
George Russell: It is always great to drive around Spa. We tried some different set-ups to try and get a bit more straight-line speed. Some were more beneficial than others, but I think we have a good understanding to gather the data and make the most of it tomorrow. It is going to be a tricky Saturday, Q2 is still the target and beating the Haas and the Alfa. We would like to see some rain to mix things up which would give us a chance to get a good result if we can maximise it. Nevertheless, we have got to make the most of whatever the conditions throw at us, and I will be ready to do that.
Nicholas Latifi: It was an average day and there are some things we have to work on. We don't have a true reference to the Haas from their missed running in FP1, so they were always going to be on the back foot.
We definitely seem to be struggling a bit more to the Alfa, we knew it was going to be a weaker track for us because of the efficiency of the circuit that is all dependent on straight line speed. There are some things to work on but it wasn't a bad day overall. It would be nice to have some mixed conditions in either qualifying or the race to create a bit of a challenge. I see that as a positive for us and something that we will try to capitalise on. However, even if its dry we will be able to make some gains tomorrow.
Check out our Friday gallery from Spa, here.