Timo Glock, 21st: “This morning I had a bit of trouble. I had a technical problem so I had to wait a bit longer to go out on track. So it was a bit of a difficult first practice, the car wasn’t that great and it needs a different set-up here to what we were running in the past. So it was a little difficult to get anything out of the car. At the end I also had to do some system checks which made it hard for me to improve my lap time. So it wasn’t the best of starts to the day. FP2 was a more standard programme. We made some set-up changes that proved to be a better direction and made the car more driveable. It was good to see Robert in the car today. I think it is well-deserved after winning the World Series Championship. So it was a great day for him I’m sure.”
Jérôme D’Ambrosio, 22nd: “It was a busy FP2, trying to complete as many laps as we could and I tried to get as much information as I could, as well as fine-tuning the car. The last run was positive. I think we are heading in the right direction and the work we have done today should definitely make tomorrow a better day.”
Robert Wickens: “Today was great. It was a good learning experience and everything felt good – I’ve been with the team for a while now and I felt comfortable, going quicker and quicker every lap. So it’s been a promising first ever practice session, I’m close to Timo and I think I can only be happy with the job I’ve done today. I can’t wait to get back in the car again next week during the Young Driver Test.”
John Booth, Team Principal: “Robert acquitted himself very well this morning. He made good progress throughout the session and worked well with his engineers to get a good basic understanding of the car. I’m sure he will be pleased to have a good grounding before his full day of testing next week. With Timo in FP1, we found an issue on the right hand side driveshaft after the installation lap. This involved a fair amount of strip and rebuild during the session, which was completed relatively quickly and lost him little time. He continues to be developing the set-up in new directions, which may seem quite odd at this time in the season, but this is just a demonstration of his tenacity. Obviously Jérôme needed to hit the ground running in FP2 and he struggled initially, particularly with one set of the development tyres. However, by the final Soft tyre run, he seems to be happier with the car, although there are a few key corners which need looking at overnight. Overall, a positive busy day for the team. I’m sure with a clean FP3 session tomorrow, we will continue to improve.
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