There were top ten times in Friday's Chinese GP practice for Paul di Resta, Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso...
Force India:
Paul di Resta: "It was a solid afternoon session and a positive start to our race weekend. The baseline set-up was pretty good to begin with and we just worked away at fine-tuning that during the session. As for the tyres, I would say the medium and softs are quite similar and we managed to get good data during the long runs on both compounds."
Nico Hulkenberg: "A very short FP1 with the mixed weather, but the running I managed was still useful because we did a few laps on the medium tyre towards the end of the morning. Then we had a very smooth FP2 in the dry conditions, which allowed us to complete all our objectives with long runs and tyre evaluation. Already I have a positive feeling in the car: it feels good to drive and I'm happy with the balance."
Ferrari:
Fernando Alonso: "It was a normal Friday, based mainly on evaluating new aerodynamic parts in FP1 and on the usual tyre tests in FP2. As always, we tried to work out which would be the fastest compound to use in qualifying and which the most consistent over a long run. Felipe and I split the workload on track and now, this afternoon it is down to the engineers to analyse the data and take the best decisions for tomorrow, both in terms of the updates we have brought for this race and from what we have learned regarding the tyres. It rained in the morning and this slowed the programme a bit, but all the same we managed to complete it in the second session. We definitely lack a bit of performance: we will try and find it for tomorrow, as well as trying to sort out the balance of the car, especially in terms of its grip. There's a lot to do if we want to have a good qualifying."
Felipe Massa: "You definitely couldn't define today as being fantastic. This morning the track was a bit wet and that meant we weren't able to run as much as we would have liked, while in the afternoon, the track dried and we managed to get through our usual Friday programme. When I was on my first run on the Soft tyres, Glock went off the track at Turn 1 and I was forced to pit again: this meant I was unable to get the most out of this set of tyres and significantly improve my time. I am sure that it would have been much faster than the one posted on the classification: that bothers me a bit because I did not manage to use the soft tyres in the way I should have done. At the end of the session, we ran with a lot of fuel on board to improve the balance of the car."
Toro Rosso:
Daniel Ricciardo: "FP1 was partly wasted because of the weather, the damp track meaning we only got a handful of clean laps. But the afternoon was better and I was happy with the balance of the car on the Prime, although I did not feel we gained that much in performance terms when switching to the Option. So this is one area we have to look into this evening; maybe the track conditions didn't suit the Option so well. Generally, we are in a similar position, compared to others, as in the first two races, although I feel we are looking more competitive than in Malaysia. I am happier with the car here and hopefully that will mean we can fight for a top ten place."
Jean-Eric Vergne: "Another new circuit for me. I enjoyed it and I think I learned it quite quickly, although the few drops of rain this morning limited the number of laps I could do. We managed to do a lot more this afternoon which was positive. Daniel and I ran different set-ups and I think splitting the programme between the two cars worked well in that the engineers now have plenty of data to study tonight. I am not entirely happy with the feeling I had from the car, but I am quite confident that we can have a good car tomorrow and do well."
Lotus F1:
Kimi Raikkonen: "It's not often that you have a perfect car on Friday and there are certain things we have to improve. To be honest, it doesn't matter if you are the slowest car on Friday if you are fast for the rest of the weekend. We now just need to look at the information and change the usual things on the car to improve it. We're aiming for better results than what we've achieved from the last two weekends. For sure, we have some work to do on the car. We tried some different things with the set-up today so we have some information to look at, and we know there are certain areas where we have to improve."
Romain Grosjean: "We had strange conditions this morning and a little bit of a difficult session this afternoon to be honest. We're not where we would expect to be, partly due to the low temperature which we didn't expect. We'll analyse what's changed coming from two warm weekends to here where it's pretty cold and has changed the game. On a positive note I'm comfortable with the way the car feels; we have a few set-up issues but it's not as if the car is nowhere. I'm sure we'll improve tomorrow, and of course if the weather changes again then everything will change. It's never easy to learn a new track in varying conditions, but it was good to get out there and find my way around, and also to get a proper impression of the intermediate tyres which is a bonus for me. The track itself is quite nice to drive, and I was pleased to be reasonably close to Kimi who obviously has a lot more experience around here. I'll be working late with the engineers tonight."
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