A very particular Friday, as the conditions were not good enough for the helicopter to fly, so we spent most of the time in the garage today. In this morning’s FP1 we managed to at least do an install lap and check the car, making sure everything was working well. In FP2 we unfortunately didn’t complete any laps and I spent an hour and a half in my seat, watching the session on TV! It was like sitting on the sofa at home – at least I confirm I’m very comfortable when I sit in the cockpit! J Tomorrow’s FP3 will definitely be a tough and intensive session. There’s now a lot to learn in a little amount of time, but it’s the same for everyone.

I’d like to thank all the engineers and mechanics, they were extremely busy today…! J Okay, of course it’s a real pity that we were only able to complete a few laps in the morning and none in the afternoon… Surprisingly, we were still able to get some interesting information and tomorrow, if it’s dry, we need to be very alert, try to have a clean programme and complete as many laps as possible. The forecast for the rest of the weekend is quite unstable, so we will see what happens – it could be an interesting race!

Unfortunately, the restrictions affecting the medical helicopter today have meant our running has been limited. However, safety is of paramount importance, so we accept this as something we have to deal with. In FP1 we managed a couple of timed laps with both cars and, given we did not manage any running on the intermediate tyre in winter testing, these laps have been very useful – they’ve provided a first view of not only the intermediate tyre but also the requirements regarding aero balance, brake, differential and engine settings, and this data is very important. With no running in FP2, we will now prepare the cars for Saturday and adjust run programmes so that we can cover as much ground as possible in the one hour session tomorrow. We can expect it to be a very busy one.