15/09/2023
NEWS STORY
Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance: A tricky day for us, especially on Alex's side of the garage.
"We opted to do some testing with Alex in FP1, expecting to complete the race preparation during FP2. Unfortunately, an issue within the ERS system of the PU meant that we had to end his FP2 after just a couple of laps on the Hard tyre. We'll fit a different module to Alex's car overnight and look to make up for lost time during FP3.
Logan had a more successful day and completed his plan without any issues. He got some good experience of this tricky circuit under his belt and he was able to get a good sense of how to trade low and high fuel performance at this track. We've got a lot of work to do to improve the car, but we know what we are looking for and we'll certainly be able to make some progress.
Alex Albon: We think the issue is battery related; I started my lap and it felt okay but then I just started to lose deployment as I went on the straight. I think we already know the problem so it shouldn't be too long to fix but around here you want the mileage because it's such a confidence building circuit. Aside from the issue, the car hasn't felt too bad and I don't believe we'll suffer from any penalties, but we'll have a proper look tonight. With the temperature of the car here this weekend and the lack of running time, we'll have to do a little bit of guess work tomorrow, but it should be fine going into FP3 tomorrow.
Logan Sargeant: FP2 was much better than FP1 so that was a good step forward. I was on a semi-decent lap on the Soft tyre but made a mistake in the last corner which cost us the lap time, but still a lot of good learning from today. We have a couple of different bits coming tomorrow that should help me out. As a team, we knew it was going to be a tough weekend feeling those limitations that we haven't really experienced in the last couple of races. We just need to try and find a way around them the best we can.
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