Driver reaction - Practice

A rundown of what the drivers had to say about a rain-affected start to the 2012 season in Friday Practice in Melbourne.

Read a rundown of what the drivers had to say about a rain-affected start to the 2012 season in Friday Practice in Melbourne. Mercedes' Michael Schumacher: "Today was a nice start into a hopefully exciting season, and certainly two promising sessions for us. However, I would not go so far as to speak about being confident, as the weather conditions were too mixed to gain a clear picture. We know what Friday sessions are for and don't know what fuel loads others were running. On the other hand, it is good to see that we were competitive in different circumstances today and that the car provides good handling - I just feel it." Mercedes' Nico Rosberg: "I'm pleased with the start to our weekend today in these mixed conditions. We learned a lot for the race here in Melbourne over the two sessions, so it was a very productive day. I feel very comfortable in the car which is the most important thing for me today. So all went well and we had no surprises, however to find out where we really are compared to the others was impossible in these conditions. So I'm really looking forward to the next two days here." Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel: "I think obviously with the conditions it's difficult to get a lot of running, but it was the same for all of us. The little time we had in the car this afternoon was okay, but now we have to find the balance and learn a bit more about the car. The important thing now is to make a step overnight and go from there. Track time is important when the car is still young." Red Bull's Mark Webber: "We did learn a little today - but after nine weeks of anxious waiting it was a shame with the weather. Mother Nature played a big role and it made it quite challenging for everyone. We got some dry running at the end of each session, which was good. The track was drying out reasonably quickly, but there were still a few sections at the end that were damp. In the end we got what we could out of it, but we still have some work to do. It was compromised running for everyone; I'm looking forward to coming back tomorrow." McLaren's Jenson Button: ""Even though it doesn't mean too much, it's always nice to start the season with the quickest time of the day. Our car feels very different compared with the last test - the circuit is different and the average corner speed is a lot lower, but the car is still working well for me. There are still a few areas where I think we can improve, and we didn't get as many laps in today as we'd have liked, but it's been a positive day. We did some set-up work this morning and then spent the afternoon understanding how the car reacts when running wet or intermediate tyres. The weather didn't help, but it's been the same for everyone. Overall, I think we're quite happy, but there'll be a lot of discussion tonight as we choose our direction for tomorrow." McLaren's Lewis Hamilton: "We spent the morning making sure we could switch the tyres on. Then, in the afternoon, we didn't do any running in the wet because the forecast says it's likely to be dry for the rest of the weekend. In those circumstances, it's important to remain calm, look after the car and make sure we focus on the rest of the weekend. Tomorrow, it'll be important to get out early in the session and maximise our dry running so that we can work on set-up and make sure our car is in the zone. Our car feels there or thereabouts but, as in testing, we don't know the fuel-loads the others were running: it still looks close between ourselves, Red Bull and Mercedes. It's going to be interesting tomorrow - we'll get a better understanding of who's going to be quick. I'm massively excited to see how the rest of the weekend goes." Sauber's Sergio Perez: "We made a good improvement from the first to the second session, but it is extremely difficult to deal with today's information as the conditions were not at all consistent. The third free practice tomorrow will be very important. We have to watch how the conditions develop and then really get everything right for qualifying." Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi: "I am pretty happy, and I think overall the day went smoothly for us. We used intermediate and rain tyres as well as the medium compound of the slicks. Because of the changing track conditions, it was obviously not easy to learn much from today, so now we have to decide what to do and think carefully about the next steps for tomorrow." Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne: "My first Friday as a Formula 1 driver was a good feeling. Being the first driver out on track this morning was something special, but after that it was time to get on with all the usual work with the engineers and you forget about that side of it. This morning, we did not manage to complete all our programme, partly because of the rain. That made life difficult, but you know, it was really good fun, as I've never driven on rain tyres, which meant I did almost everything you could do today, in terms of trying tyres. I also did a long run, which was useful in terms of learning the circuit and there are still plenty of little details where I need to improve. But overall, I would say it was a positive first day and what I must do tomorrow is push more." Toro Rosso's Daniel Ricciardo: "All the hype this week has made it feel as though this is my first F1 race again, but it's not and I've just got to get on with things. It was a great feeling being back out on track here in Australia and I really enjoyed it. This morning went pretty well, very good even, while the afternoon was a bit mixed because of the weather. All the same, we managed to try most of the tyre compounds apart from the Option. The changing track conditions made it a bit 'cat and mouse': you'd go out on one tyre, then come in and wait for it to dry a bit and you had to be patient. This afternoon, I did a long run and I think we can still gain some more race pace and the good thing is I know what we have to do to achieve that. This track is very different to the two circuits where we tested this winter, but it looked positive, so I'm hoping to get a good grid position tomorrow. We'll see what the weather does, but even if it rains, I expect there'll be a big crowd to cheer us on." Caterham's Heikki Kovalainen: "The car felt good from the first proper run this morning and we found that the baseline we had set over the winter carried over exactly as we had planned into today's practice sessions. It's a shame that the conditions today meant that we couldn't test the tyres more, but that's the same for everyone, so the main thing was that we had a good balance all day, and kept improving the setup in both sessions. It's also good to see that the new spec front wing that we ran both this morning and this afternoon is giving more grip overall, so that's another positive step forward and puts us in good shape for tomorrow." Caterham's Vitaly Petrov: "That was a reasonable day for me. The weather meant we weren't able to try too much with the setups and we had a small problem this morning that cut short the final run, but one of the main things for me today is that I feel very comfortable with the team. We're quickly building up a good relationship between me and the engineers and the mechanics, so as that keeps growing we'll be able to get more out of the car and keep finding the pace that we know this car has." Williams' Pastor Maldonado: "We completed the majority of our programme and did a longer run this afternoon. The car is performing well and we're going in the right direction, but tomorrow we will see when we finally get into qualifying." Williams' Bruno Senna: "The conditions today cut our running a little, but it was the same for everybody. This afternoon we completed some simulations to gain a greater understanding of what the car is doing and we are still learning. In terms of pace, we will see what we can achieve tomorrow afternoon." Force India's Paul di Resta: "Difficult to say too much about the first or second session because the conditions were so inconsistent with the rain showers. Even so, we made the best of it and focussed on assessing the aero package we have here and managed to learn a few things. We also made some set-up changes between the two sessions and the car felt better in the evening, so that was positive. The difficult thing is that we didn't really get an impression of where everybody is in terms of performance, so there are still lots of unknowns going into tomorrow." Force India's Nico Hulkenberg: "Both FP1 and FP2 had mixed conditions, especially FP2 with the heavy rain, which arrived just before the start of the session. But we made the best of it and I ran on the full wets, the intermediates and the soft tyres when the track had dried out. It's difficult to read much from the times because not everyone ran the soft tyres and there were lots of different fuel loads, but the main thing for me is that I have a good feeling with the car already."Lotus' Kimi Raikkonen: "We didn't really learn much from today due to the weather, but it's the same for everyone. We tried a different steering rack in the first session. It would have been fine to run, but we knew that the base system would be better. The setup we have now is working well, it may take a while before we get it perfect but we'll make the best of it. Hopefully the weather will be better tomorrow and we'll be happier after qualifying. I didn't push too hard today; if it's dry tomorrow we'll have a better idea of what we need to do." Lotus' Romain Grosjean: "We waited to be able to go out on slick tyres, as we expect it to be dry for the rest of the weekend; there's no point taking any unnecessary risks. The E20 feels very good and I'm happy with the balance of the car. I've been learning the track this afternoon and I've been focusing on improving my lap times as the day went on. We had to be patient, but we managed to get some decent laps in at the end and these were valuable. It's a fantastic track and the changing scenery as you drive through the park is incredible. I feel comfortable and confident in the car and am really looking forward to qualifying." HRT's Narain Karthikeyan: "Today we ran with a new car in mixed conditions, so tomorrow will be like starting all over again because it looks like conditions will be dry. With few laps and a new car, we were unable to assess the balance of the car. But it was important to do some mileage and we completed 19 laps which isn't too bad, but we still have a long way to go. As for the new car, these problems are common, they tend to happen in preseason testing and this is our testing". HRT's Pedro de la Rosa: "We managed to complete our installation lap in order to check the systems, but afterwards we detected a problem with the hydraulic system which forced us to stop. This is all part of the learning process, we've arrived here with a new car and just to have been able to get out for the second session was a feat, but we would have liked to have done more and learnt more. The last parts of the car arrived late and thanks to the brutal effort put in by the whole team, we were at least able to complete the installation lap and, thanks to this, we know where the problem is for tomorrow and can fix it. We start tomorrow with one problem less, and will surely run into another one, but that is part of the learning process. We knew that this Grand Prix would be difficult so we need to be patient".