Free Practice 1 took place under dry conditions with both Daniel and Esteban running Pirelli’s Medium and Hard tyres.
Daniel recorded the fifth fastest time, while Esteban was a couple of tenths adrift in tenth place.
As forecast, heavy rain interrupted the afternoon session with both drivers completing a solitary lap on Intermediate tyres.
What we learned today:
We made good progress in FP1 both in low fuel and high fuel and we’re well prepared if we see rain during the rest of the weekend.
Daniel Ricciardo, #3, R.S.20-03
Free Practice 1: P5, 1:17.200, 28 laps
Free Practice 2: P15, No Time Set, 1 lap
Daniel: “The morning was pretty good and I felt we got into it right from the get-go. It was a bit like the first session in Austria, when we got into the track quite quickly and found a solid base set-up straight away. I’m happy with the start to the weekend and I’m feeling good. It was too wet in the afternoon, so we took it easy on the Intermediates, meaning we save a set of Wets for tomorrow. Otherwise, I’m feeling positive and content with our Friday’s work.”
Esteban Ocon, #31, R.S.20-04
Free Practice 1: P10, 1:17.615, 35 laps
Free Practice 2: P14, No Time Set, 1 lap
Esteban: “Practice one went well and we ran through the programme with no issues. We can see that the car is working quite well, but as normal for a Friday, there are a few things we can improve. We can see we have a fairly quick car, however, we’ll need to confirm that tomorrow when it counts. At the moment, it’s a good start to the weekend, I’m comfortable in all conditions and we’ll see what weather we have for tomorrow and Sunday.”
Ciaron Pilbeam, Chief Race Engineer:
“We had a very good morning session where both drivers ran the Hard and the Medium compounds, mainly on low fuel but with some high fuel running at the end. We’ve completed a lot of the homework that we need to do on a Friday. The afternoon session was pretty much washed out. The full Wet tyre was fine to run, but it was too wet for the Intermediate. With the possibility of a wet qualifying and race, a lot of teams are saving Wet tyres in case they are required for the rest of the weekend. Despite the weather conditions, we’ve had a good day. We were comfortable when it rained last weekend in Austria and we’ll be ready to run in the wet this weekend if we need to.”