Practice quotes: McLaren, Renault, Force India, Sauber

Fernando Alonso finished best of the rest with P6, while Nico Hulkenberg, Charles Leclerc and both Force Indias were in the top 10 in FP2.

(FP2 Results)

McLaren:

Fernando Alonso (P6):

“It was definitely a positive Friday for us. We tested several items for future reference, which meant we sacrificed some track time in FP1 for that. In the second session, the car behaved well and we did some tyre tests, but clearly the car is quite similar to how it was in France and Austria. In the last 11 days we raced three times, so the performance and the power shouldn’t be too different to what we saw in the last couple of weeks, which means tomorrow it’s going to be tight in the midfield. Two tenths can completely change your qualifying, as you can be out in Q1 or you can be seventh. Hopefully we are closer to Q3 than in the last few races, but everything remains to be seen tomorrow. The track is in good condition, in good shape; the asphalt is better, less bumpy, and has more grip. The third DRS zone probably gives us an opportunity to race as well, and the weather is great, so I think we have all the ingredients to see a good race.”

Stoffel Vandoorne (P17):

“I was quite surprised to come to Silverstone and it be so bumpy, especially after the resurfacing. In general it’s not been an easy Friday for us, but I think it’s been pretty positive for the team. We split the set-ups between the two cars in FP2 and went in different directions to test various things. Fernando seemed to be going very well in sixth, so hopefully we’ve found some performance that we can take into tomorrow. From Friday to Saturday sometimes we make a bit of step backwards, but we’ll see; hopefully we can carry on improving. I think it’s the tarmac here that provides a bit of a peaky feeling in the car. We had a similar feeling in Barcelona and Russia when they were resurfaced, but I think it’ll provide some entertainment.”

Renault

Nico Hulkenberg (P7): 

“That was a standard Friday where we started with the car not where we wanted it and refined it through the day. We made some positive improvements and I’m reasonably happy with how the car’s working here. It’s pretty hot out there and this combined to the new surface should make for an interesting qualifying session tomorrow and race on Sunday.”

Carlos Sainz (P11): 

“We managed to complete our programme so I’m pretty happy with how the day went. There’s certainly some work to do for tomorrow but we gathered important data. The long run was quite busy with the cars in front so I’m confident there is more pace to come. The new surface has plenty of grip, even when it was dirty at the start of the first session, but it is quite bumpy too. The DRS in turns 1 and 2 was interesting and it was a superb feeling to be flat out at a very hot and sunny Silverstone.”

Force India

Esteban Ocon (P8): 

“It was quite a good day, ending up in the top ten in both the sessions. We’ve done most of our homework for tomorrow and the new aero parts certainly helped us. The car is feeling good and I’m confident we can be strong tomorrow and Sunday. We just need to keep working hard tonight on the small details to find those last few tenths.”

Sergio Perez (P9):

“It’s been a busy day for the team. We had an update package to evaluate in the morning session, where we split the test plan between the two cars. Understanding how these tyres work on the resurfaced Silverstone track was one of our main aims from the day: we gathered a lot of data about all the compounds and we expect the conditions to remain very hot for the rest of the weekend. The margins are, as always, very tight in the midfield, so we will need to make a step forward before qualifying, but I think we can aim for Q3 tomorrow.”

Sauber

Charles Leclerc (P10):

“I am quite happy with how the day went. I had a good feeling in the car, and we made quite a bit of progress between FP1 and FP2. The track offers some great challenges and I really enjoyed driving here, particularly in the fast corners. We will use what we have learned today and aim to make further progress for tomorrow’s sessions.”

Marcus Ericsson (P14):

“It was quite a good Friday. We managed to run through the planned programme. The car felt good in terms of balance and we have a good baseline to work from for the rest of the weekend. It is great to be back in Silverstone – I really enjoy driving on this track. The corners are very impressive, especially due to the high speeds we can reach with our cars this year. I look forward to building on today’s work for the rest of the weekend.”