Belgian GP Practice

Posted on Friday 28 Aug 2009 and tagged with Belgium, Practice.

Objectives P1
•    Wet running to assess set-up requirements for these conditions

Objectives P2
•    Performance evaluation of tyres – high fuel for race and low fuel for qualifying
•    Evaluation of aero and mechanical set-up

Conclusions – Sam Michael, Technical Director
“The weather was mixed this morning, so it was a little difficult to see where everybody was. What the rain in the morning did mean was the afternoon was compressed in terms of getting all of our work done. The running we have done shows we are not in our normal competitive position. However, we have tested lots of things today and we have got some direction, so we will look into this tonight and do all we can to take a big step tomorrow.”

Nico Rosberg
Runs P1: 1 (new option) install, 2 (new prime) baseline, 6 (new wet) wet running, 4 (scrubbed wet) aero balance, start on grid
Runs P2: 3 (scrubbed prime) baseline, 5 (scrubbed prime) continue run after red flag, 9 (new prime) new tyres, 5 (new option) new tyres, 4 (scrubbed prime) mechanical set-up, 3 (new option) new tyres
“It was not a good day today. The car was a long way from the pace and with the weather this morning, we only had one session to try and make a difference, which was not enough given how far behind we were. We made some big changes and we got some answers back, but we need to have a think tonight and try to find a solution.”

Kazuki Nakajima
Runs P1: 1 (new prime) install, 2 (scrubbed prime) baseline, 7 (new wet) wet running, 5 (scrubbed wet) aero balance, start on grid
Runs P2: 3 (scrubbed prime) baseline, 6 (scrubbed prime) continue run after red flag, 9 (new option) tyre test/race balance, 11 (new prime) tyre test/race balance, 4 (new option) new tyres
 “It was a difficult day for us. The balance of the car was not too bad but we just need to find some more performance from the car from the other aspects we can change.”