Pedro de la Rosa (11th): “I had a good second session today. The mechanics did a great job and we recovered from the gear box problem we had this morning. In the afternoon we went through our programme. It was only one session but still enough to confirm the wind tunnel results. We took a step forward with the new aero package and the F-Duct. It is all going in the right direction now.”
Kamui Kobayashi (13th): “Overall I’m quite happy. We had no troubles with my car today and I could see it improving over the course of the day. We have definitely found a new way to work over the last three weeks. Obviously we have to work on the set-up, but there is no big issue, nothing we can’t solve.”
James Key, Technical Director: “We came here with several additions to the car which we were going to test today. Therefore we went out early in the session. Unfortunately Pedro suffered a problem with the gearbox, which is under investigation. It’s not clear whether it’s a hardware problem or one of the control systems. It meant he spun and had to stop his session after just a few laps. Kamui carried on and went through the programme very well. We had several new parts on the car which we wanted to test. The F-Duct system has taken a very good step forward, so we are pleased with the work we have done there.
“The aero components, which were new on the car, didn’t give us any surprises so we are happy with the work there as well. We found some useful directions for the set-up which added a lot to our database for understanding the car and the tyres. In the afternoon both drivers carried out similar programmes. Pedro obviously needed to get the laps in, so getting a feel for the car. I think the comments from both drivers are positive concerning the changes we made to the car, which are both set-up and aerodynamic updates. So we can be happy we made the step which we expected. It looks like the pace is reasonable, certainly on the long runs.”
