Lewis Hamilton, P1 - 1:43.369, 2nd; P2 - 1:40.888, 1st
“We’ve been hoping for some time to improve our revised rear wing. It hasn’t really been working fully since we first tested it at Suzuka, so we’ve not been able to use it to its fullest extent. We knew that it had potential though - and to have it finally working properly is a huge plus for us. The car feels good, so I’m hopeful for a good qualifying result tomorrow afternoon. Of course, it will be tough, because the Red Bulls tend to pull out half a second in Q3, but our pace is closer to theirs than it’s ever been. Of all the weekends this year, this time I feel like we really do have the right package to challenge the fastest cars. I think we can fight for the front row. My visit to the stewards was just to explain what happened out on track with Bruno (Senna). It was a bit of a misunderstanding: he was trying to start his lap, and I was trying to come into the pits. I’ll go and speak to Bruno to make sure everything’s cool.”
Sebastian Vettel, P1 - 1:42.760, 1st; P2 - 1:41.145, 2nd
“That wasn’t bad, the car felt strong early afternoon, although tonight it was a bit different due to the conditions. All in all I was pretty happy, I think there is some lap time still to gain - so we will analyse things now and hopefully pick up some pace tomorrow. As expected, the McLaren was quick today, Ferrari is up there and the Renault isn’t looking too bad either so we will see what we can do.”
Click Here to Read More
Formula 1: Sebastian Vettel Fastest in First Practice at Abu Dhabi
Formula 1: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - First Practice Results
Formula 1: Lewis Hamilton Fastest in Second Practice at Abu Dhabi
Formula 1: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Second Practice Results
Fernando Alonso, P1 - 1:44.121, 6th; P2 - 1:41.314, 3rd
“This weekend has got off on the right foot for us, as we gathered a lot of data which is now being evaluated by our engineers. The first thing to do on a Friday is to check that everything is alright and that the handling of the car corresponds to what we have seen in the simulations and after that you have to work on improving performance by changing set-up and aerodynamic downforce levels and that is exactly what we did during these three hours. We are reasonably pleased with the car’s level of competitiveness and the fact it feels easy to drive, but we know there is still more potential that can be extracted to go even quicker. I expect tomorrow’s qualifying to be very tight: let’s hope we can get closer to the Red Bulls than we have been in the past. There is no point in speculating over the possible scenarios that could unfold in the race: we have to concentrate on ourselves and on how to make the car go faster.”
Mark Webber, P1 - 1:43.840, 4th; P2 - 1:41.315, 4th
“That was a good day; we had an engine change in between the two sessions, which was planned. It was the usual suspects up at the front today and Fernando, Seb and I were pretty much on similar times. The car is close to what we had in Brazil, it’s hard to develop a car which is pretty solid already. It feels a bit like we’re in Bahrain here in terms of the engineers’ office and in the car it feels like a normal weekend, but obviously there’s a lot more at stake - that’s the only thing that’s changed, but you can’t try any harder.”
Robert Kubica, P1 - 1:44.080, 5th; P2 - 1:41.576, 5th
“It was an unusual start to first practice today with a damp track, but once it had dried out, the situation was similar to what we found last year: the track evolution was huge, and the tyre degradation was pretty high, too, which made it hard to do much consistent running because the circuit was getting better as the tyres got worse. It’s tricky to find a nice balance on the car here, because the off-camber corners are frustrating to drive and the high rear degradation means the car oversteers quite a lot. As usual, tomorrow will be a challenging day, too: we will complete final practice in daylight, before qualifying at dusk, and we will have to anticipate the change in track temperature and how it affects the car.”
Felipe Massa, P1 - 1:45.160, 11th; P2 - 1:41.583, 6th
“Overall, it was a good debut for me at this track, where I was unable to race last year. My times came down progressively, both because of the changing track conditions and also, as lap after lap, I managed to learn where I could push harder. It was a shame I had a little problem towards the end of the second session which prevented me from doing my last series of laps with a heavy fuel load. I hope to be able to continue to make progress so as to be in the fight for the top places. The car seems to handle well: now we must analyse the data we have gathered to try and make the right choices in terms of set-up and aerodynamic configuration. I am sure that there is room to improve our performance level.”
Vitaly Petrov, P1 - 1:14.370, 12th; P2 - 1:42.096, 7th
“The circuit was very dirty during first practice, and the tyre performance dropped off very quickly because of that, making the car difficult to drive. We made some good improvements between the sessions, particularly with the brakes, and it felt much better - plus the circuit cleaned up and grip levels improved. In the end, we got more laps done than we had planned, which will give us a good amount of data to try and improve further tomorrow.”
Jenson Button, P1 - 1:43.785, 3rd; P2 - 1:42.132, 8th
“Today showed us there are a few areas where we need to improve my car. We changed a few things for the afternoon session, and I struggled with the balance - front locking is an issue, as it has been for the past few races. There’s not enough consistency, so I think we’re running a downforce level that’s too low for this circuit. So that’s probably not the way forward, but at least it’s shown us the reasons why the pace wasn’t there. It seems like Lewis’s car, which was in a different configuration to mine, is still very quick - so hopefully we can find that same sweet-spot with my car. I want to enjoy the rest of the weekend - and there are lots of reasons to feel optimistic for tomorrow.”
Vitantonio Liuzzi, P1 - 1:45.585, 15th; P2 - 1:42.203, 9th
“This morning was a bit unusual - clouds over Abu Dhabi isn’t something I’ve really seen before! The morning was OK, we tested some settings with the switchable rear wing, some of which worked and others that didn’t, but in the afternoon it was pretty good. We got on top of the SRW and could concentrate on getting through our programme. The balance was pretty good, and at the end of the day we’re not that far from where we wanted to be set-up wise. We got a good understanding of the supersoft and medium tyres and tried some different engine tuning and mapping work. We can be pretty proud of the step we made. The balance is good and we are in a strong position compared to the other teams.”
| 
|