Heikki Kovalainen, Car 20 - Chassis T128-04: “Not too bad at all. Both sessions were pretty straightforward and we kept making improvements all day. The car felt good on both sets of tyres – the track here has really good grip levels and the degradation on the softs was pretty low, certainly manageable, so that looks good for Sunday. The main thing is that our Fridays are now all solid, giving us the chance to really dial the cars in and that means we can work on maximising our pace on Saturday and Sundays, and you can see the evidence of that from our recent races.”
Jarno Trulli, Car 21 - Chassis T128-03: “That was a good Friday for us. The car felt pretty balanced all day and we kept improving on each run, so I think we’re looking ok for the rest of the weekend. Both tyre compounds behaved pretty well here – the softs weren’t going off too quickly at all so I think that gives us good options for the race, and there’s a bit of performance difference between the softs and the mediums so we might be able to do something with that in qualifying – let’s see.”
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Formula 1: Jenson Button Fastest in First Practice at Yas Marina
Formula 1: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - First Practice Results
Formula 1: Lewis Hamilton Fastest in Second Practice at Yas Marina
Formula 1: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Second Practice Results
Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: “A good day for us here in Abu Dhabi - we completed the planned program on both cars with no issues all day, keeping up the much improved reliability record we have had in the latter part of the season. This morning the two drivers ran on the development tyres and Heikki was working on brake comparisons, so we have some useful data to look at from those. In the afternoon we worked on race evaluations on both compounds and I think we look pretty good on both the low and heavy fuel loads on both. All in all a good Friday, setting us up well for the rest of the weekend.”
Thierry Salvi, Renault Sport F1 Support Leader: “We completed a very good number of laps today which is always key for Fridays. We now have a lot of data to work on which we will use tonight to fine tune the engine performance for the drivers tomorrow and on Sunday. This track puts the emphasis on the responsiveness of the engines - driveability it not so important here as there are a number of relatively low-speed second and third gear corners and I think we are looking ok in those areas, as well as in top speed which is obviously key for the long straights.”
Riad Asmat, Group CEO: “Another solid Friday for us and we look like we have maintained the same sort of pace we have been showing in the last few races. One of the key areas we have been working on is making sure we run reliably all weekend, so to complete another Friday where we have run without any issues all day is good. Now the goal is to carry that through the rest of the weekend and make sure we keep up this level of performance to the end of the season.”
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