Having finished runner-up in the Malaysian GP, it was back down to earth for Sergio Perez as he finished 11th place in Friday's Chinese practice.
The Mexican driver may have arrived in Shanghai still been riding the high from his first-ever podium finish at the previous grand prix, however, it was definitely back to work on Friday as the hard yards were put in for the weekend ahead.
And they were made even harder by a brake problem for the Sauber racer which kept him down in 11th place, 1.444s off the pace.
"The balance of my car had actually been better in the first free practice session compared to the afternoon," said Perez.
"I wasn't too happy in the second free practice. I had problems with the brakes, which didn't work the way they should, and I lost too much front tyre temperature on the back straight. It was too easy to lock the front.
"We need to improve the car's overall balance for qualifying. We have a bit of homework now, but we have gathered quite a good amount of data."
But while Perez was not happy, the same cannot be said of his team-mate Kamui Kobayashi, who finished P7.
"We had a few minor issues to fix, but overall today's practice sessions went smoothly.
"y car definitely felt better balanced in the afternoon's practice session than it did in the morning, and I believe we look okay here on this track.
"Of course there is still room for improvement in regard to the set-up. When we make our decisions for tomorrow we will not focus too much on today's track conditions, as we expect the temperatures to be a bit higher then."
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