09/09/2022
NEWS STORY
Pierre Gasly: "There is still some work to do, but tomorrow we have an opportunity to make a step in the right direction. We know what we are struggling with and that was noticed again today in both FP1 and FP2, there was especially a lot of sliding in the medium to high-speed corners. Though there was the Red Flag, it didn't change the overall performance much, because we were still able to gather all the necessary data about our weaknesses. We will need to analyse everything tonight to allow us to deliver a strong top 10 in Qualifying tomorrow."
Yuki Tsunoda: "We've mainly focused on race pace today, as we'll be taking the penalties for Sunday. We did some short runs on the Medium that were quite strong, but unfortunately I wasn't able to get a competitive lap in on the Softs. We need to go away and look at the long-run data tonight, as I didn't feel quite as comfortable in the car as I wanted to – this will allow us to prepare as much as possible for the race. It's going to be a difficult weekend, but a few cars have already announced they'll be starting from the back of the grid too, so there are some opportunities there if we can find a good long-run set-up and some additional pace."
Jonathan Eddolls (Chief Race Engineer): "We had a busy FP1 session with a series of mechanical and aero test items distributed across the two cars, with a view of addressing the expected limitations at this track. The session ran smoothly, and we were able to capture all of the required data. Turn 1 braking was a limitation, as it often is here, with the bumpy braking zone and low downforce level we run. We made a number of changes to the cars for FP2, and the performance took a step in the right direction, although neither driver was able to get a clean lap on their Softs. Yuki had a snap whilst on his run and the Red Flag disrupted Pierre, so our final short-run ranking is not fully representative. Pierre was also struggling more with the rear-end of the car than expected, so there is more to do to give him the support he needs. The long runs were quite competitive, which is encouraging for Sunday. As always there is plenty of work for us tonight but from today's running, we have a good basis to work from."