Abu Dhabi GP Practice

Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering: We had some issues with the bodywork during first practice, but the team did a really good job to correct that and fix the problem ready for FP2. It was a fairly standard second session and the car had some good pace. We are looking for a little more consistency on the long runs, but other than that we are happy with the progress we have made. The second session was a lot more representative of the race and qualifying in terms of the weather and time of day, so it is pleasing that we completed our programme then.

Valtteri Bottas: After some issues in FP1 we managed to make up some lost time in FP2. In the second session everything worked well, but there is still some work to do tomorrow with regards to the balance of the car. In some corners I lose the front and in others, the rear, so I want to get that sorted early. There is time, so we are under no pressure, and we still have some tuning to go which will add performance.

Felipe Massa: I wouldn’t say I had a perfect day, but I know the areas that I need to improve and how I will do this, so I am not worried. The first session wasn’t too much of an issue, luckily I saw the problem early, and so the bodywork didn’t come off. The afternoon was better, we made some progress but I still struggled on the new tyres. The Mercedes are still looking quick, but we will keep working to close the gap.