Driver reaction - Sepang Practice

A rundown of what the drivers up and down the grid had to say about the state of play following the opening day of the Malaysian GP.

The drivers have their say... McLaren's Lewis Hamilton: "It's been a good day for me. We've made a few changes to the balance of the car since the last race and I'm much happier - but we'll still be making changes to improve our long-run pace, which can always be better. I'm working as hard as I can to have as good a qualifying set-up as my race set-up and I think we've got a bit more of an understanding of how the car works on heavy fuel. I went wide a couple of times on my long run in P2, and looking after the tyres will be a tough call in the race - so it's all about finding the right balance. Around here, overtaking will be a little more possible than in Melbourne. Nevertheless, starting from the front will still be the best position for the race, and that's what I'll be going for tomorrow. We've got to keep pushing, stay hydrated and remain focused - there's a lot of hard work ahead." McLaren's Jenson Button: "The morning was a little frustrating: we had an oil leak which cut my session short, but it didn't really matter as the track was still dirty. In the afternoon, I did some positive running on both tyre compounds - I think we have a good understanding of the tyre. But it's going to be tough on both compounds around here with all the humidity and the heat. I think the race will be tough for all of us - unless the circuit improves a great deal, there's going to be quite a few stops on Sunday! We want a good race car, but the aim for tomorrow is pole - you make your life a lot easier if you start from pole position, so we're putting a lot of work into single-lap performance." Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel: "I would love to be a bit higher up this afternoon, but all in all we had decent running today - although there is still a lot to do. The tyres drop off quite quickly here, which is the same for all the drivers, but I think we are sliding quite a bit and I would like the car to be a bit more stable. We made a good step today, the potential is there, but we need to get to it. We will see what we can do tomorrow." Red Bull's Mark Webber "We got through our whole program today, which was good and P1 and P2 went smoothly. Obviously it's a different venue altogether to Melbourne, so understanding the tyres is important here. The rain held off, which is always fortunate and we have plenty of work to go through regarding our car set up and the tyres. In terms of the heat here, it's fine, obviously it's warm in the car but we come prepared for that." Ferrari's Fernando Alonso: "As usual here in Malaysia, one of the main tasks on Friday is to get used to the extreme conditions as quickly as possible. Especially in the garage, you suffer from the heat when you are inside the cockpit, while at least out on track, you get a bit of air, although you can hardly call it cool! This morning we did a lot of work on comparing different aerodynamic configurations, which was a bit like putting together a puzzle, trying to find the best combination. In the afternoon, we then moved on to the usual Friday job with the tyres, running with various different fuel levels on board. I would say that on this front, both the Mediums and the Hards seem to behave reasonably well, both in terms of performance on the first lap and when it comes to degradation on a long run. We gathered a lot of useful information which will allow us to be ready for the rest of the weekend. It did not rain today, but we know that here a storm can arrive without a moment's notice and so we need to be ready for every eventuality." Ferrari's Felipe Massa: "Fernando and I were on rather different programmes from each other and that is the main reason for the difference on the time sheet. In the afternoon in particular, we went in completely different directions which in my case did not work, but at least it allowed me to understand a few important things about the handling of the car. Now my engineers and I know what is the right direction to go in, which makes me feel more optimistic for qualifying compared to how I felt about it last week in Melbourne. Clearly, at the moment, our car is not yet competitive at the highest level. Do I feel any special pressure? No, no more than usual: at Ferrari we are always under pressure. The important thing is to understand what did not work in Melbourne and I think we have everything in hand to do that." Mercedes' Michael Schumacher: "We had a good day on track today, and I am very happy about the work that has been done since Australia. This has enabled us to achieve reasonably consistent long runs which is obviously important in these conditions. Saying that, we also know that everyone works on different programmes on Fridays, so I would guess we have not seen everything yet. We are very much aware that we should not be too optimistic about today's outcome." Mercedes' Nico Rosberg:"We've had a decent start today at one of our home races here in Malaysia so I'm quite happy. We learned a lot about how to use our tyres, and I feel things are going in the right direction but I don't know where we are compared to the others. It will be very interesting how we can manage the situation on Sunday." Lotus' Kimi Raikkonen: : "It was an okay day but we still have work to do on the set-up. The steering was a small improvement but we are still working in this area. I feel fine in the car in the hot conditions, and the race will take place later in the day so I don't expect that to be a problem. I hope we will make some progress tomorrow as the car is quicker than we've shown. Having an issue with the KERS in the afternoon was frustrating but I'm sure we'll have it fixed for tomorrow. The track is exactly as I remember it and I hope for a better qualifying than we had in Australia. I'm looking forward to racing here." Lotus' Romain Grosjean: "Today went pretty well with a couple of small interruptions to my sessions. In the morning there was something not quite right with the rear of the car which was soon sorted, then in the afternoon I picked up a cut on one of my tyres. Neither was a major issue. We looked at dealing with the heat and finding a good set-up for the high track temperatures here. This track feels fantastic in a Formula 1 car. We're not quite there with the set-up, but we have plenty of data to work through. I think we've got a good idea of where to go for qualifying tomorrow." Toro Rosso's Daniel Ricciardo: "I've driven here before in Formula BMW, but when you switch to a Formula 1 car, the notes go out the window! But all the same, it helps to have some previous track experience. The simulator work has probably been more useful to me. The track is quite technical and I think we made a good step forward this afternoon, compared to the morning which was quite difficult. Much of our work today centred on adapting the car to the very different track characteristics here compared to Melbourne and the biggest difference of course is the temperature. The tyres have to work harder in these conditions and therefore getting the car balance right is crucial." Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne: "Since last year, I've driven the track at the simulator a lot, but they don't have the heating turned to maximum in Milton Keynes! Overall, I think today went well for us, I had a strong long run this afternoon, when my pace was good and Daniel's lap time shows we have a good car. I feel quite confident and happy with how things are going. Obviously, I am experiencing the heat and humidity for the first time, but I expect to get more used to it as the weekend goes on, so I have no concerns for the race from the physical point of view." Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi: "It was the first time we have used the 2012 tyres in such high temperatures and the degradation is quite significant. Probably this had an impact as well, but in any case we struggled with the balance of the car quite a lot today. We will have to improve for qualifying and the race, but I'm sure we can do that. It was a shame that I lost so much track time in the second session because of the gear box problem, but these things happen." Sauber's Sergio Perez: "It was a difficult day in terms of setting up the car and getting the balance right. It was better on long runs than on single laps. We managed to achieve some improvements for the second free practice and now we will be looking carefully at the data tonight." Force India's Paul di Resta: "A very hot day in the car, but we got through most of the programme and have enough information going into tomorrow. There was an issue with one of the brake discs in the afternoon session, which probably looked more dramatic from outside the car, so the team made some changes before I started my long runs on the medium tyre. It's always difficult to read too much performance-wise from a Friday, but I would expect the midfield to be very competitive once again this weekend." Force India's Nico Hulkenberg: "There's not a massive amount to say about today because it was a normal Friday where we focussed on getting on top of the tyres and trying to get the car in good shape for tomorrow. I think we learned quite a lot and the car feels totally different compared to Melbourne because of the track characteristics and the hotter conditions. The set-up work we did is promising for tomorrow and the long runs have given us lots of useful data, which was something we missed out on doing in Melbourne." Caterham's Heikki Kovalainen: "I think today proved what we suspected, that managing tyre degradation is going to be critical to performance on Sunday. This morning we tried a couple of setup options that didn't really work too well but we made some changes over lunch and straight away this afternoon the car felt better. I had more grip and was able to manage the tyres well over the second run we did so I think we've found some improvements where we wanted to today and have a base to work on tonight." Caterham's Vitaly Petrov: "We worked through the normal Friday runplans and for me it was a pretty good day. The grip levels this morning were not good, but I think that was the same for most of the teams, but this afternoon we had found some improvements, even though the track itself had lost some of the grip from this morning. We have a couple of areas to focus on tonight, particularly looking at maximising traction, but I'm reasonably pleased with where we have ended up." Williams' Pastor Maldonado: "We've had a good day of running in Malaysia. The team have done a great job and we completed our test programme without any problems. The car looks consistent and I'm really looking forward to tomorrow. It will be a challenge to get into Q3, but I will be pushing hard to achieve that. Williams' Bruno Senna: "We had more work to do this afternoon having not run in P1, but our pace on longer runs looked good. We still need to improve throughout P3 tomorrow morning, but we have a good direction to go in. The track is very different to Australia and it will be a long, tough race but I am looking forward to it." Williams' Valtteri Bottas: "I am only the ninth Finnish person ever to drive during a Grand Prix weekend, which is a nice fact that I've just found out. After testing in Barcelona, my focus was on coming here and I've prepared myself as I would for a race weekend, both physically and mentally. I had a good rhythm from the beginning of P1 and we completed our programme ahead of P2. It was so hot out there, the hardest conditions I've driven in. While you are driving you don't feel it as much but as soon as you stop the heat really hits you." Marussia's Timo Glock: "Today has been a pretty good day for us I have to say. This is one of the toughest Fridays of the season for the whole team and they did a great job. Our programme meant we had to do a lot of work on the car and the guys were constantly on the 'go'. We still have some way to go; the car is not perfect yet by any means. We have however made a lot of progress so we need to keep this up for tomorrow. The tyres look quite difficult over a race distance, so that could be a gamble. As for the heat, my fitness work over the winter has paid off for sure. It's been a good start and good reliability again." Marussia's Charles Pic: "It has been a very interesting day for me today. We had a big programme to work through to put the car through the track testing we are catching up with right now, but the results have been very positive and I am happy with the steps we have brought to the car. It's not easy for the team working in the heat here; it has been a long day for everybody. Now we have a lot of information to take into tomorrow and I will also have the new rear floor parts to try, so I'm looking forward to that. A very good job by everyone and my thanks to them." HRT's Narain Karthikeyan: "In the morning session we suffered some reliability issues, the same as in Melbourne but not as bad and we've also got some cooling issues too. In the afternoon these issues persisted on turns 13 and 14 where I wasn't able to select the gears properly but the important thing is that we're within the 107% time and can continue to improve and be in better conditions. I definitely felt the difference with regards to Australia but we need a lot more. This is one of the hardest races of the year so we're going to need to work hard to be able to have a good performance." HRT's Pedro de la Rosa: "Today has been a positive day for us because it panned out with the normality of a practice session day, and that in itself is good news. For the first time we were able to try out different solutions on this car: the DRS is working, the power steering has improved from Australia and, although we're not where we would like to be, we've taken a considerable step forward. The sensations improved as the day wore on and the car behaved better from the morning to the afternoon. There's still plenty to do, but the general evaluation for the day is positive."