Fernando Alonso, P1 - 1:41.239, 3rd; P2 - 1:37.968, 1st
“Overall, a positive start to this Valencia weekend, my second home race. We got through all our planned programme, working mainly on tyres, where the chief element at this Grand Prix is the first appearance of the Medium. It was important that we were able to do so many laps, because on a circuit like this one, getting a lot of kilometres under your belt helps you gain confidence in the car, looking for the limits and thereby improving performance. The track characteristics are well suited to our car, but it is too early to say where we are compared to the others. Already, in the past, we have gone well on the first day only to see ourselves losing out by a second in qualifying, therefore I don’t even want to consider today’s time sheet. In FP1 and FP2 you try so many things and the track changes very quickly - even more so on a street circuit like this one - so it is really impossible to make predictions. The car seems to handle well, therefore we can tackle qualifying with confidence, aware that we are up against very strong rivals: it’s not by chance that Red Bull have always taken pole in the first seven races of the year and clearly they are still the favourites. Overtaking here will be easier than in Monaco, but grid position will nevertheless be important.”
Lewis Hamilton, P1 - 1:41.510, 4th; P2 - 1:38.195, 2nd
“It was very slippery out there today. In P2, the grip was a little lower because the new Prime tyre proved a bit tricky to switch on. But once we fitted the Option tyre, it was much easier to drive and we seemed to have some pretty decent pace. There are still plenty of improvements we can make to the car. We need to work on the balance; it’s not a million miles away, but it could be better. There are some things we’ll change this evening to make it more stable. It looks very tight up at the front but we’re definitely in the fight, which is the important thing. I think we’ve got some more pace up our sleeves for the rest of the weekend, too.”
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Formula 1: Mark Webber Fastest in First Practice at Valencia
Formula 1: European Grand Prix - First Practice Results
Formula 1: Fernando Alonso Fastest in Second Practice at Valencia
Formula 1: European Grand Prix - Second Practice Results
Sebastian Vettel, P1 - 1:42.941, 16th; P2 - 1:38.265, 3rd
“Sometimes you try different things, which is normal on a Friday - there were no secrets from us today. This morning we were running a different programme, but this afternoon we were on the same page as the others. It was very tight with the times, but I had a very good feeling in the car. Much better this afternoon, so we‘ll see what we can do tomorrow. We had a good race here last year, but it was close with Lewis and Fernando, it’s changing from race to race, but lets see.”
Michael Schumacher, P1 - 1:42.270, 11th; P2 - 1:38.315, 4th
“We had a typical Friday practice situation, running through different set-up possibilities and variations. As usual on Friday, our focus was more on the long runs, and all in all I am very happy because we managed to do a lot of work. In the morning session we still had some issues to sort out, and in the afternoon we just worked consistently on our car. All of us are aware, though, that under normal circumstances we will not yet be strong enough to fight for the podium, and will most likely find ourselves starting around the fourth row. But as we managed to complete our programme in a good way, I am still taking a positive feeling out of today’s practice.”
Felipe Massa, P1 - 1:41.758, 6th; P2 - 1:38.443, 5th
“I’d say it was a good day, better than many other Fridays this season. From what we could understand after three hours of free practice, the car is pretty competitive and I don’t expect the situation to be that different to the one we saw two weeks ago in Canada. It’s true it is only Friday, but at least it’s a positive start! The tyres worked well: both the prime and the option delivered more grip than we had been expecting going into the weekend. Sure, there’s a big difference between the two compounds, but the Medium, with higher temperatures than we saw in Canada, did not do badly. Now we must make the right decision regarding set-up on the car for the next two days. The car balance is not yet perfect - for example we are still locking the fronts too often under braking - but we are working in the right direction. Let’s hope we can put up a fight in qualifying, just as we did in Canada.”
Jenson Button, P1 - 1:41.926, 7th; P2 - 1:38.483, 6th
“This morning we were mainly collecting data, so I spent quite a lot of time in the garage. In the afternoon, I did a bit more running and tried both tyre compounds. The prime proved quite difficult to switch on, and consequently we couldn’t find good balance with it. I think we’ve got a good balance on the option though - and, because the track will grip-up quite a lot with every session we run, we’re now heading in the right direction balance-wise with the prime too. I wasn’t paying too much attention to the times today, as it was more important to work with our engineers to get the car working on both sets of tyres. But, as I say, I think we’ve found a positive direction now.”
Mark Webber, P1 - 1:40.403, 1st; P2 - 1:38.531, 7th
“We used the medium tyres in the first session and they weren’t too bad. The first session went okay; there were a lot of different people testing a lot of different things with different fuel loads. In P2, it was more straightforward. We had a slow start to P2 and then went out on the option tyre. The long run went well and we got lots of information for the race on Sunday, the track temperatures are likely to be different on Sunday, but it’s still useful.”
Nico Rosberg, P1 - 1:42.043, 9th; P2 - 1:38.981, 8th
“We had a bit of a tricky morning: it was clear that we had to change some things on the set-up but we managed to improve the car for this afternoon. It was important to learn as much as possible today but I am still not completely happy with the balance we have at the moment. There are a few new things to adapt to this weekend, such as the new engine mapping regulation for example, and that makes it a little more challenging. We have work to do this evening, but I am positive that we will make a good start to the qualifying day tomorrow.”
Nick Heidfeld, P1 - 1:41.580, 5th; P2 - 1:39.040, 9th
“It was a good day, I have to say that I had my best long run ever in the afternoon session in terms of not encountering traffic; it was amazing and very good for learning about the car. I could make some changes from the steering wheel which was possible with having such a long run, and also it was good for learning the tyre characteristics of the new medium compound. The new medium tyre feels good and I’m really happy with the results from it as it has not been tested that much. I think the times at the end of FP2 give the best indication of our pace relative to our competitors. In this morning’s session, I think some other teams were running different programmes from us, so their times might have been a little misleading.”
Vitaly Petrov, P1 - 1:41.227, 2nd; P2 - 1:39.586, 10th
“Today we ran on both high fuel and low fuel to get a feel for the car on this circuit, and it was running well on both loads. We haven’t faced any mechanical difficulties so that was also a positive to be taken from today. Both cars finished in the top 10, and so there’s every reason to be positive and look forward to making some more progress tomorrow. I enjoyed the new medium tyres and they weren’t performing badly. It’s clear the soft tyres are, as expected, around 1.5 seconds quicker than the mediums so we will have to perform well on these tomorrow in order to have a successful weekend.”
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