Japanese GP 2014

OCTOBER 3, 2014

Friday Team Quotes

Fernando Alonso, Japanese GP 2014
© Active Pictures

Red Bull-Renault

Sebastian Vettel (5th, 1:36.436): "I think we can definitely do better than fifth, but we may hit the limit when we get to third! Mercedes seem to be very quick around here but I think we can improve, especially on a short run. It would be nice to fight the Mercedes in the race, who knows if it rains, but otherwise we will be against Williams, McLaren, who seem stronger here, and Ferrari."

Daniel Ricciardo (10th, 1:37.186): "I made a mistake in FP2. I did a quick lap and then I was trying to get a good exit to start the next one. We were trying to cool the tyres and there was a yellow flag so I was trying to go slow enough to miss it at the start of the lap, but I think the tyres cooled too much and I was too hard on the throttle for the situation and lost the car. It's of course not what I wanted in the first ten minutes of the second session, but I'll learn from it. It's not ideal as we missed running this afternoon, but Sebastian did a full session so we will be able to see his data. The Mercs were really quick today, we think we're there but then they pull a gap. I think we should be able to be third on the grid."

Mercedes GP

Lewis Hamilton (1st, 1:35.078): "The gap changes from track to track between us and other cars but it looks pretty good so far this weekend. To come here at one of the most demanding tracks for downforce and to be that competitive is fantastic. It's amazing what this team has done. The pace looks good but it's a track that's very hard on tyres, especially the rears; one minute you have the one lap pace and one minute you have the long run pace, so it's a very fine line. Qualifying is going to be very important as it's quite difficult to overtake here. We don't know what's going to happen with the weather this weekend; it's such a challenging circuit but we always come to the weekend prepared for everything. I just want to race."

Nico Rosberg (2nd, 1:35.318): "That was a very, very good day for us. Thank you to the team for this great car, we are very quick on one lap and also on high fuel levels. My long run was very good this afternoon, so I'm quite confident for a good race here. There is still a lot of work to do tonight to find the perfect balance for this great old school track. It was a real pleasure to drive this fantastic track here today. Also the atmosphere is great, lots of fans are here already and they are very enthusiastic."

Paddy Lowe: "Suzuka is a fantastic circuit and a big challenge for both the drivers and the engineers, so it was great to get down to work today and start adjusting the car to the circuit's characteristics. We saw plenty of incidents, which reflects the demanding nature of the track, and we were learning our way with the tyres to begin with. We ran our standard programme, using the prime in P1 and then both tyre types in the second session, but the car balance still needs tuning as both drivers are suffering with some understeer. We also lost some time with red flags in the second session, which meant the afternoon was a little slow to get going. All credit to the mechanics, who had a busy programme after we took both engines out in the garage between the two sessions and managed to get out in the afternoon on time. The weather forecast still suggests tomorrow will be dry but there is obviously some uncertainty for Sunday, depending on how the typhoon turns in the coming hours. We will monitor this closely as the weekend develops."

Toto Wolff, Mercedes Motorsport Director: "We ran a standard Friday programme today, although the warm, dry conditions were obviously very different to what is currently forecast for Sunday. However, today's runs showed that we can be satisfied with our pace on one lap and the longer runs. So far, we're on track - but we will continue to work hard to further improve and make sure we are prepared for all possible conditions. Finally, I'd like to say a word for the Japanese fans: Suzuka is one of the temples for our sport and it's fantastic to see the welcome they give us every year. I hope we can now deliver a race on Sunday that will reward their passion for Formula One."

Ferrari

Kimi Raikkonen (6th, 1:36.529): "Today wasn't easy and the lack of grip from the track surface, especially in the morning, didn't help. This is a fast and tough track, very demanding for both car and driver. In the first practice session, on the Hard tyres, we concentrated on testing different set-ups aimed at qualifying and the race, then in the afternoon, we made some changes which brought a partial improvement to the handling of the car. But because of the yellow flags and a technical glitch, I only managed to complete just one good run on the Medium tyres. Now we have a full night's work ahead of us in order to find a set-up that will allow us to get the car to suit any sort of condition."

Fernando Alonso (7th, 1:36.637): "It's always nice running at Suzuka, as it's one of the circuits that provides the most driving pleasure and where the enthusiasm of the fans is really fantastic. Despite the many interruptions to the second session, today we managed to complete almost our entire planned programme without any problems, working on race set-up for both dry and wet conditions. At the moment, the uncertain weather forecast makes it impossible to take any decision, even when it comes to tyre choice. Here, compared to other tracks, the difference between the two compounds is minimal and their performance level is very similar."

Pat Fry: "Suzuka is one of the nicest and most complex circuits on the Formula 1 calendar, with every corner representing a challenge. Therefore it's very important to find a set-up that gives the drivers as much confidence as possible. In the first session, we worked on the balance of the car, trying to adapt to the low grip levels, while the second session was spoiled by several yellow and red flags and we didn't manage to make the most of the time available to work on our programme. Suzuka is also one of the most demanding tracks for the tyres, which are put under a lot of pressure by the series of consecutive corners and the heavy lateral loads which never allow for a moment's rest, from Spoon to the 130R. Today, it's difficult to assess the order behind the two Mercedes, but we will have to pay very close attention to the weather, because the forecast is changing all the time and at the moment it seems it's going to play its part."

Lotus-Renault

Romain Grosjean (13th, 1:37.563): "The E22 feels quite good here and it's always fantastic to be driving a Formula 1 car at Suzuka. We spent a bit of time in the morning getting the brake feel right, but the afternoon was pretty straight-forward. It's going to be very interesting to see what the weather does over the weekend as there's been a lot of speculation about this. We were within shooting distance of the top ten today which is always a positive with our generally better race pace. Let's see what happens in qualifying and what challenges the weather present."

Pastor Maldonado (16th, 1:37.798): "I'm happy with today. There were no issues with the car and the only problem I had was a vibration from my hard tyres in the second session. Suzuka is a great circuit and I think we have quite good potential here. There's some more pace to come and our car has looked quite reasonable. I will have a bigger challenge in the race as there will be a ten-place grid penalty as we're now on to our sixth engine, but if we can race reliably then a good result is still possible."

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director: "It was a good solid day for us. Romain ran with a development rear wing in the morning and a regular rear wing in the afternoon to give us some good comparison data. Both drivers were reasonably happy with their cars, building on the progress made in Singapore. The fast corners of Suzuka seem to suit us better than many circuits which bodes well for the weekend. We've considered the various weather permutations as we conducted today's programme as it will be intriguing to see what emerges over the weekend."

McLaren-Mercedes

Jenson Button (4th, 1:36.409): "We traditionally lack pace to our rivals on a Friday, so it's nice to see the performance we have. Naturally, there are still a few more things to work on, but the car was generally working better this afternoon than this morning. That first session wasn't too bad, but we were able to make some really productive changes to the car as the circuit gripped up and the temperatures rose in the afternoon. The majority of those changes will also help our long-run pace, which is another positive. There's quite a lot of degradation - there's quite a lot of high-speed change of direction, which is typical of Suzuka, and it's very tough on the tyres. We sort of expected that - it's always a tough race. We're certainly getting there, which is good to see. I hope the weather stays dry - I just want to race."

Kevin Magnussen (8th, 1:36.714): "Suzuka is a proper racetrack: it's high-speed and the limit is hard to find. And, when you go over that limit, it can be very easy to go off. This is a really cool place, and I've really enjoyed driving here for the first time today. Today's sessions have been quite encouraging, too. As things look right now, I think Q3 should be achievable for us tomorrow. We still have to do some work to improve how the car operates on the Prime, but things are a bit better on the Option, which didn't feel too bad. We've improved the car through the day - this is a fantastic place to drive, the car is certainly contributing to that feeling, and it handles this place pretty well."

Eric Boullier, Racing Director: "The mighty Suzuka always delivers such a stern challenge, and we saw a number of red- and yellow-flag incidents throughout this first day of practice. Both Jenson and Kevin impressed today. This place is never easy for a rookie, yet Kevin drove extremely well, regardless of whether he was running high or low fuel loads, or using the Prime or Option compounds. As we all know, Jenson loves this place, and proved typically fast today. While it would be perhaps optimistic to believe that his fourth position in FP2 will be translated into the same level of qualifying pace tomorrow, it's nonetheless pleasing to see the car working well. Our programme this morning was largely devoted to undertaking aerodynamic tests, which included the fitting of a measuring rake to Kevin's car. For the afternoon, we were able to evaluate the Option tyre as well as refining the car's balance, improvements that both drivers found to their liking. We're still working extremely hard to bring further developments to the MP4-29, and there's a significant amount of focus and resource ongoing at the McLaren Technology Centre to ensure we keep pushing to make progress right through to the end of the year."

Force India-Mercedes

Nico Hulkenberg (12th, 1:37.504): "Today's practice sessions went quite well from our perspective, even though in FP2 there were a lot of yellow and red flags that brought a few interruptions. We have a clear idea of what we need to concentrate on to find a bit more speed overnight and hopefully some changes in the set-up will improve the balance of the car ahead of tomorrow's qualifying session. I am not overly worried about the rain that is expected later in the weekend; we just have to wait and see, especially for Sunday. In the end, we are all in the same boat when it comes to the weather and we will need to react to what the situation is."

Sergio Perez (15th, 1:37.786): "It was quite a difficult day because we lost a lot of track time this afternoon. It meant we could only do a short run on each tyre compound and I missed out on the high fuel running. Of course, if it rains on Sunday, missing out on this running won't really matter, but we have to see what happens with the weather. My initial feeling was good on the hard tyre but we still need to work out the right compromise to get the most from the medium tyre."

Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal: "It was quite a straightforward morning session with both cars running through their initial programmes and making reasonable progress. Unfortunately the afternoon was a bit more complicated with Checo's car suffering from an electronics control problem related to the gearbox. That impacted quite significantly on his track time and meant we could not do the usual high-fuel running that we had planned. Nico, on the other hand, was able to do some longer runs to give us some useful data, although his progress was disrupted by the red flags, especially the final one at the close of the session. The rest of the day was focussed on evaluating set-up changes to find the best direction for tomorrow, while also keeping in mind the uncertain forecast for Sunday. The overall focus for tonight is to try and make the drivers feel a bit more comfortable with the balance."

Sauber-Ferrari

Adrian Sutil (17th, 1:38.010): "In FP1 we had problems finding a good balance for the car. The hard tyres didn't work as we had hoped. There was very little grip, which makes it difficult to set a decent lap time. For FP2 we made some changes to the set-up of the car, which improved the situation with the hard tyres, but then I struggeled with the medium compound. Overall the balance of the car is just not satisfactory. Our main problems are coming from the power unit, which is disappointing. Unfortunately I don't see how we can change that for tomorrow."

Esteban Gutierrez (18th, 1:38.365): "Unfortunately, I lost the car in the second practice session in turn 13. With the speed you get there it was difficult to avoid an impact. I am really sorry for the team, and I am sure we will recover for qualifying. In the first practice session we were struggling with the set-up of the car. I think we found a good compromise in the second session, and we will analyse the collected data to get everything ready for tomorrow."

Giampaolo Dall'Ara, Head of Track Engineering: "That was not a good day for us. In the morning we had issues with the set-up of the car. We tried to work it out, but we are not quite happy from where we stand at the moment. We struggled to get the hard tyres to work, which has been a problem every time we allocated the hard compounds, and we were expecting to be in a better position here on this track. What was also disappointing was the fact that the improvement on the medium tyres was not as much as we expected. So there is a lot of work to do. Unfortunately, Esteban lost the car in turn 13. On the data we could not see anything wrong with the car, but we still have to analyse what happened. We also had issues again with the power unit on Adrian's car. He had to come into the pits during the first high fuel run in the second free practice because he lost power. We were able to fix the problem by taking oil out."

Toro Rosso-Renault

Daniil Kvyat (9th, 1:36.943): "It was a tough day, but I enjoyed finally driving here in Suzuka and I was able to learn the track quite well. I struggled a bit with the car balance today, so there is still some work for us to do overnight. But I'm confident we can improve the car for tomorrow and hopefully we can get the most out of the car for Saturday's Qualifying and Sunday's race."

Jean-Eric Vergne (11th, 1:37.219): "Definitely a difficult Friday, with very little running. It didn't help not having driven FP1, but I have to say Max did some good work with the car this morning. In the afternoon I had a few issues that did not allow me to run as much as I would have liked. We have to investigate and understand what the problems were in order to find a good solution. On the positive side, we have a good base to work on, so I'm confident we can put together a better car for tomorrow."

Max Verstappen: "Today for me it was all about getting experience in the car, especially on a difficult track like Suzuka. I was impressed with the engine power. The car is bigger compared to the one I'm used to in Formula 3 and there are a lot more things to think about while you're driving, so I had to use some laps to get confident with such a different car. I was not taking any risks and I drove within my limits for all the session, doing as much mileage as possible. I have to thank Red Bull and Scuderia Toro Rosso for giving me the possibility to be in the car already this year on Fridays and get well prepared for next year. I find myself very comfortable in this team and I like my working group. I hope to drive also in Austin, Sao Paolo and Abu Dhabi. Now that I know what it means to drive a Formula 1 car, I'm looking forward to it even more."

Phil Charles, Chief Race Engineer: "It was a mixed day, with some positives but also a few negatives. The real positive was Max's performance as he drove a fantastic first session. We are very pleased with him, as he settled in very well and produced laps times we would not have expected for a first day. On the negative side, we had a problem that stopped Verstappen's car out on track towards the end of FP1. The mechanics had to work very quickly to sort out the car in between the sessions and then when Jev took it over for the afternoon, he encountered a problem related to the rebuild after FP1 and then he had another one right at the very end of FP2. Three stops on track is never good and today, Jev was the one who unfortunately suffered the consequences, so he's not really been able to settle in as he should do, especially having sat out the first session. The situation is better with Daniil, although he wasn't happy with the car in Turn 8. So hopefully we can improve that for tomorrow."

Ricardo Penteado, Renault: "While everything worked well on Daniil's car and we were able to show good pace, we had a number of issues on the other car. A broken exhaust valve brought Max' session to an early close, which was a shame as he was doing a great job until that point. It was easy to change though and JEV was able to start FP2. However he then had a fuel pump issue that disrupted the early part of the session and then an electronic issue at the end. We will study everything and make sure he has a smoother day tomorrow."

Williams-Mercedes

Valtteri Bottas (3rd, 1:36.279): "From the first lap the car balance was good so we have made a good step forward. The upgrades we have brought have worked well, which is positive to see. It will be interesting to see where we are tomorrow when people start to squeeze a little more from their cars. Although the Mercedes still look strong, there will be a good fight between us, the Ferraris and the Red Bulls."

Felipe Massa (14th, 1:37.700): "The car looks very competitive as Valtteri was close to the top. I had some issues today and just couldn't get any grip; it has nothing to do with the new aero parts as those seem to have worked well. Once we can fix the issues, I think we can be competitive tomorrow. Today's work was aimed at qualifying performance, as the race looks like it will be wet, so that is another consideration we must take when setting up the car. Our race pace looks strong from what Valtteri has shown, so we will work hard to get my car working the same tomorrow."

Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering: "Overall we have to be happy with the day; the car has proved to be quite quick. The programme incorporated the new aero features that we have brought to Japan and we completed the tests we needed to do. The car is where we expected it to be and we should be competitive so it's a good start. The cars tried different directions and our focus overnight is to ensure we get the maximum potential out of both tomorrow."

Caterham-Renault

Marcus Ericsson (19th, 1:39.069): "I'm happy with today. This morning in FP1 we went through the programme as planned and we tried the new front wing during the last run on used tyres - it felt good and we will definitely get some useful information. We went back to the old front wing in FP2 and it was a decent session. We completed plenty of laps and the car feels nice to drive round here. We have something good to build on during the rest of the weekend. Also, if we look at the gap to the guys in front, I think we are better than we've been before, which is positive. I have a lot of good memories from this track: I've been on pole and won here in the rain and in the dry and always been quick here back in 2009, so it's great to be back - the track is great to drive in an F3 but amazing to drive in an F1!"

Kamui Kobayashi (22nd, 1:42.760): "It hasn't been the best of ways to start my home Grand Prix: after sitting out in FP1, I suddenly lost the rear-left during my first run and that was the end of the day for me as I crashed into the barrier. It's a shame, but at least we have tomorrow - it's not much time but I will need to use FP3 to feel the car and luckily this is my home race and a track I know very well. Let's see what happens tomorrow, hopefully it will be better than today."

Roberto Merhi: "Our objective this morning was to do more kilometres and continue to get used to the car and it all went as planned. We didn't take any unnecessary risks and didn't push really hard as it was only a free practice. I'm pleased with my performance; I kept improving at the same time as I was learning the track. I have to say that Suzuka is an amazing circuit, I've really enjoyed it here and we were also able to end up with both cars in front of our main competitors so it was a good morning in the office."

Manfredi Ravetto, Team Principal: "We are happy to have introduced a new front wing, this shows commitment and effort from the team. We are sorry for Kamui's crash, which hugely damaged the car but, contrary to rumours concerning the shortage of parts here in Japan, we are perfectly able to repair the car and run it tomorrow."

Cedrik Staudohar, Renault: "Marcus used his circuit knowledge to the full today and we got lots of information to study overnight. Everything worked well on the engine side and we were able to complete the programme. Unfortunately Kamui's crash in FP2 meant we were not able to assess our usual checklist of fuel consumption and energy management so we will consolidate Marcus' data to try to keep ahead of the Marussias as we were today."

Marussia-Ferrari

Jules Bianchi (20th, 1:39.306): "We lost a bit of time this morning because of a reliability issue, but aside from that we have had a reasonably positive start to our weekend. We have made some good progress with the car already, so I think we can improve a little more still, ahead of the race. I think there are some unknowns about the weekend yet, given the weather situation, but fingers crossed we can have a good race here. It's nice to be back here at Suzuka. It's such a great circuit."

Max Chilton (21st, 1:39.333): "Overall, it's been a good day for me. We improved the car with each run and by the end of the day we had a good compromise balance, with more time tomorrow to hone the car further. So I'm reasonably positive for the rest of the weekend. The main unknown is of course what the weather will bring, but we will continue with our planned programme and hope for the best."

John Booth, Team Principal: "Unfortunately this morning we had a couple of reliability issues that kept both cars in the garage a little longer than we would have hoped for, but overall we collected enough information to allow us to evaluate some of the set-up changes we had planned to make this weekend. Into FP2 we made more changes based on the results of FP1 and the drivers reported that they were reasonably happy with the car. As the weather looks like qualifying will be dry and the race wet, we opted to do a little more set-up work than usual in FP2 to achieve a compromise between the long runs and the focus for Sunday. The pace on the option tyre was maybe not quite as good as we expected, however going on to the higher fuel the car was a little more competitive, so we will evaluate the difference in this evening and hope to improve further for tomorrow."