Malaysian Grand Prix – Friday Practice
Here is a roundup of the Malaysian Grand Prix Friday Practice Session at the Sepang International Circuit.
Malaysian Grand Prix – Friday Practice – Sahara Force India
Nico Hulkenberg – Malaysian Grand Prix Friday Practice
FP1 – 1:37.513 – P8 – 26 Laps
FP2 – 1:36.390 – P9 – 37 Laps
Nico Hulkenberg – “It’s been a good day, we didn’t have any issues with the car and we ticked through all the boxes on our programme, went through all the tyre compounds to collect the necessary information.”
“It has been a straightforward day – they way you want a Friday to be. The new track surface made driving made driving here a lot smoother because it used to be very bumpy. It’s a nice feeling but with such strong sunshine and high temperatures you can feel the tarmac soaking up all the heat and it really makes the car hot inside!”
“The changes to the final corner make it a real challenge, it’s the one corner where you can lose a good lap so you need to be very careful when turning in.”
Sergio Perez – Malaysian Grand Prix Friday Practice
FP1 – 1:37.601 – P9 – 27 Laps
FP2 – 1:36.284 – P6 – 33 Laps
Sergio Perez – “It’s a promising start to our weekend, the track is very different compared to last year so today was all about learning as much as we could. The change have made this circuit much more fun to drive and I think it’s a big improvement to the past.”
“We collected a good amount of information, our short and long-run pace seems good and it gives me the confidence that we will be strong this weekend.”
“Our focus though is on the race, that’s when we need to be at our best and we need to make some adjustments but I think we’re getting there.”
Robert Fernley – Deputy Team Principal – Malaysian Grand Prix
“It’s been a positive day overall, we had a busy testing plan and managed to complete it – that involved the understanding of three tyre compounds on what is a very different circuit compared to the one we raced last year.”
“The tyres are behaving as we expected them to and the drivers were very happy with the balance of the car. Of course, there’s still plenty of work which need to be done to extract more performance, especially in qualifying and that’s something which we will focus on tonight.” 
Malaysian Grand Prix – Friday Practice – Ferrari
Sebastian Vettel – Malaysian Grand Prix Friday Practice
FP1 – 1:36.331 – P4
FP2 – 1:35.605 – P3
Sebastian Vettel – “I think we had a decent day, we were testing quite a few things and our pace didn’t look too bad, at least from what I was told inside the car. Mercedes look again, very strong on long and short runs. For ourselves – we are pretty happy with the short runs but I haven’t seen much yet of what the other people did for their long runs.”
“I think we can improve, especially to get the car a little bit more together and I am confident that we can find a bit here and there for tomorrow.”
“Our target is to win and nothing less – at the same time we need to be awake and realise that we are not strong enough to come here and say we will win but if there is a chance, by any circumstance, then we need to be right there to take the opportunity.”
“The new asphalt seems to be a step forward, the last corner is a bit trickier but all in all, this is a step forward.”
Kimi Raikkonen – Malaysian Grand Prix Friday Practice
FP1 – 1:36.315 – P3
FP2 – 1:35.842 – P4
Kimi Raikkonen – “It was not a very smooth day, I did not have a good feeling with the car through the sessions and I’m surprised that the lap time was not too bad considering the fact that my feeling were far from what I wanted.”
“The new tarmac feels pretty similar but it’s smoother and there’s a bit more grip too. I haven’t seen what the others have done as I was concentrating on our program.”
“Now we need to sit down an go through all things, there’s lots of work to be done but I’m sure we can improve for tomorrow.”
Malaysian Grand Prix – Friday Practice – Sauber Formula 1 Team
Marcus Ericsson – Malaysian Grand Prix Friday Practice
FP1 – 1:38.313 – P17 – 20 Laps
FP2 – 1:37.449 – P17 – 28 Laps
Marcus Ericsson – “It has been a good first day here in Sepang. It was a typical Friday preparing for the weekend with short and long runs and on different tyre compounds.”
“Overall it was a trouble free day on which I was able to run a good amount of laps, now I just need to sit with my engineers to analyse the data in order to improve.”
Felipe Nasr – Malaysian Grand Prix Friday Practice
FP1 – 1:38.184 – P16 – 18 Laps
FP2 – 1:37.547 – P18 – 26 Laps
Felipe Nasr – “It was a normal Friday. Due to the asphalt we could see that the track surface is much smoother compared to last year. We had to re-asses all the tyre information and understand as much as possible to see how the car reacts in order to work on it’s balance.”
“When we did the long-runs in the afternoon, we had some cooling issues and because of the engine limitations for the practice sessions – this forced us to reduce our running.”
“We now need to work on the cars balance for the rest of the weekend.”
Malaysian Grand Prix – Friday Practice – Renault
Kevin Magnussen – Malaysian Grand Prix Friday Practice
FP1 – NO TIME
FP2 – 1:37.664 – P19
Kevin Magnussen – “We expected it to be hot in Sepang but maybe not as hot as that! My crew were great in dealing with the fire and getting the car back into action for the afternoon.”
“From my perspective, I heard the call on the radio to jump out, I didn’t need to be told twice!”
“In the afternoon we were able to get some laps so the day wasn’t a complete write-off, there’s a bit of oversteer with the initial set-up but we know where we want to improve.”
Jolyon Palmer – Malaysian Grand Prix Friday Practice
FP1 – 1:39.148 – P19
FP2 – 1:36.94- P12
Jolyon Palmer – “That was a pretty straightforward practice over my side. I think all the action was on Kev’s side today. We did have a few moments pushing the limits as we learnt the new track surface in the morning but the track’s still very rewarding to drive.”
“We have made decent progress for the afternoon session and should be well-placed for further improvement tomorrow.”
Nick Chester – Technical Director – Malaysian Grand Prix Friday Practice
“We had a difficult start to the day with Kevin’s car. There was a problem with a valve on a fuel breather pip which meant that fuel escaped from the vent, causing the fire.”
“The crew did a great job keeping everything under control so we could address the problem. We changed fuel systems for the second session and don’t expect any further issues.”
“Jolyon had two clean sessions and was happy with his car balance in the afternoon – Kevin was able to complete half of the afternoon session and has a baseline to work with. Between both drivers we have some good information to progress set-up and tyre performance on the new track here in Sepang.”
Malaysian Grand Prix – Friday Practice – Mercedes
Lewis Hamilton – Malaysian Grand Prix Friday Practice
FP1 – 1:35.721 – P2
FP2 – 1:34.944 – P1
Lewis Hamilton – “That was a good day today. No issues to report and we got through our run plans in both sessions. There’s a lot of data to analyse tonight and to make sure we have a good understanding of the tyres and of position relative to the others. Overall a good building block for tomorrow and the rest of the weekend.”
“A big shout-out to all the fans here today, I saw them waving across in the stands at the end of FP2 and they’ve all got banners and caps, showing their support which is really great to see.”
Nico Rosberg – Malaysian Grand Prix Friday Practice
FP1 – 1:35.227 – P1
FP2 – 1:35.177 – P2
Nico Rosberg – “The new track surface is really enjoyable to drive. Challenging but with good grip – it’s tough to get the setup right and with such an unknown element as new tarmac but we’re right on track.”
“Turn 15 is interesting as you can now try several different lines if you’re attacking the guy in front so that will be good for overtaking. Looking at the race, even the soft tyre held on pretty well out there, so we don’t expect any big surprises.”
“Strategy-wise we have to run the hard compound, of course, but otherwise it’s all pretty straightforward – I’m looking forward now to qualifying.”
Malaysian Grand Prix – Friday Practice – Red Bull Racing
Daniel Ricciardo – Malaysian Grand Prix Friday Practice
FP1 – 1:36.753 – P6
FP2 – 1:36.337 – P8
Daniel Ricciardo – “The new asphalt is good, it gives a bit more grip which is always fun although I don’t think I found as much grip as the others.”
“We still have to find a little bit of time on both low and high fuel – we didn’t really find a big gain with the soft tyre on low fuel so that’s one thing which we need to address for tomorrow.”
“We’ll do a bit of work tonight and definitely make some improvements for tomorrow.”
“the last corner is not the most attractive on the calendar but it’s challenging so I guess that’s positive – if you take the inside line it sort of washes you away with negative banking and if go around the outside you end up doing a lot more distance so it’s about trying to find a good compromise and making it mistake free.”
“Track temperate was, I think, recorded at 61 degrees – I’ve never heard a number that high before and it was pretty warm and toasty out there today. I think Sunday will be good fun, we just have to keep hydrated and it should be a good challenge.”
Max Verstappen – Malaysian Grand Prix Friday Practices
FP1 – 1:36.973 – P7
FP2 – 1:36.037 – P5
Max Verstappen – “Formula one is where I always want to be so it’s nice to spend my birthday here. I can enjoy some birthday cake and because it’s so hot here in Sepang, I’ll lose the kilos anyway!”
“Both sessions were pretty good. The first practice you just had to build up to it, especially with the new tarmac and you have to get to grips with the car.”
“I enjoyed the new surface, it seems to have more grip than before. Our short runs need to get better but the long runs are looking strong. The pace on the soft tyre felt decent too – I feel like that tyre has potential on the long run.”
“It’s hard to tell where the other drivers are on the first day but Sebastian looks strong so we need to improve our short run in order to be competitive.”
There’s lots more to come soon over the weekend ahead of the Malaysian Grand Prix along with a full qualifying report tomorrow!
The Formula 1 Girl 🙂
xxx
