Pastor Maldonado, 15th: “It was a busy day but we completed our programme. We were concentrating more on our race pace, but I feel happy as overall the car is looking consistent. I’m looking forward to getting into qualifying tomorrow.”
Bruno Senna, 18th: “Today was quite a difficult day with tough track conditions. We found a good direction for the car though and our long runs this afternoon looked consistent. We just need to keep chipping away to ensure an optimum set-up for the race.”
Valtteri Bottas, 14th (FP1): “It was pretty warm out there but it’s not as humid as it was in Malaysia. We got all the data we needed this morning so it was a productive session. It was also good for me to get more mileage on another new track, completing some consistent runs. Overall, I am happy with how it went and I think we will see a good race on Sunday.”
Mark Gillan, Chief Operations Engineer: “As will be the case at the majority of races this season, Valtteri drove in the morning session alongside Pastor, with Bruno getting back into his car for the afternoon. Unfortunately Bruno’s track time was compromised by a small electrical problem which was quickly diagnosed and resolved. Both sessions were dominated by the performance of the medium and soft tyres as we worked to optimise the set-ups to balance the car for the difficult track conditions. We improved both cars from the morning session to the afternoon, but still have work to do to improve things further ahead of qualifying and the race.”
