Today was a normal Friday and we worked through our programme well. The focus was on understanding the tyres and maximising the performance of the package ready for qualifying and the race. We know this track well from testing, but the conditions were very different with a lot of wind and hotter temperatures so the lap times were slower. Mercedes and Ferrari are still looking very strong so we will need to wait and see where we are compared to them.

Missing the first session meant the second practice became more important so I’m happy we had a good run plan and could do everything we targeted with the tyres, car set-up and testing the updates. Now we need to look through the data and I’m sure there is still some more we can unlock from the package in time for qualifying. It’s too early to say anything about performance and where we stand, so we will have to wait until tomorrow to see where we are compared to our rivals. Having said that we are very much looking forward rather than backwards and looking to close the gap to Mercedes and Ferrari.

Overall it was a good session because we managed to complete all of the work we had planned. For me it was slightly frustrating that I made a mistake in Turn 3 on my quickest lap, but apart from that it’s so good to get back in the car because you learn so much every time you take to the wheel. There is always that middle ground of pushing but ensuring that the car comes back in once piece, so it was important for me to not cause any difficulties for Valtteri and set him up well for the sessions ahead. This has been a good basis and I can analyse what I did right, what I need to improve next time, and use that for my next FP1 session which is coming up soon.

We had a programme of experiments we wanted to get through this morning that focused on tyre management and understanding the updates we have brought to this race. Susie was excellent and acquitted herself really well, especially as she hasn’t driven the car since winter testing. The parts we tested in FP1 were carried forward to FP2 and they have been working well which is very positive. Felipe picked up some damage during his short run so his lap time was not particularly representative. We are looking good in terms of long run pace, but can make improvements to our performance in qualifying mode.