22/03/2024
NEWS STORY
The team experimented throughout Friday's track action to continue its learning with, and building on our knowledge of, the W15.
Those tests including a variety of set-up changes across both FP1 and FP2, as we completed our programme on the Soft and Medium tyres.
George was the happier of our two drivers with the overall balance of the car, ending FP2 sixth quickest. Lewis meanwhile felt less comfortable and its likely that the team headed in a less than optimal set-up direction between the sessions.
The team both trackside and at Brackley will be digging through the data overnight and looking to find improvements ahead of returning to the track on Saturday morning.
George Russell: We were pushing the limits today and I had a few moments out there. It was all under control in the end though. It was very tight out there in the first session with FP2 slightly more spread out. I was on for a really good lap on my last push on the Soft tyre, but just ran wide in the last two corners and picked up some minor damage to my front-wing. Without that, I think we would have finished the session P3.
We are trying to understand this car further and made some changes after Saudi Arabia. Every single lap is so valuable as you learn more about the car and try to get it into the sweet spot. We will have the team back at the factory working hard in the simulator to get more performance out of it. Let's see what tomorrow brings. When you arrive the next day, it can often be very different.
Lewis Hamilton: It didn't feel great out there today. We began the day on the front foot and in FP1, the car generally felt good. The first run was actually the best the car has felt so far this year. To continue our learning, we made some big changes into FP2 and unfortunately, that made the car worse. It was tough but there are positives we can take from the first session. We will be working hard overnight to make improvements ahead of tomorrow.
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director: We had a good FP1 session. The changes we made to improve our high-speed cornering performance and reduce the bouncing after Saudi Arabia seemed to be a good step in the right direction. Overall, the car was feeling quite good.
Unfortunately, FP2 wasn't as strong. Lewis felt that we had gone in the wrong direction with our changes. Frustratingly, they weren't quick to unwind so he had to live with that throughout the session. George found the car a bit trickier in the windier conditions of FP2 compared to earlier in the day. We could have ended a bit higher up the time sheets had he not had a bit of damage. Overall though, it's clear that we've got work to do overnight to improve the car.
Check out our Friday gallery from Melbourne here.