Williams Martini Racing F1 Japanese Grand-Prix practices 06.10.2017: Japanese GP Practice Paddy Lowe, Chief Technical Officer: We had dry conditions in FP1, almost throughout

Japanese GP Practice
 


Paddy Lowe, Chief Technical Officer: We had dry conditions in FP1, almost throughout, just a spot here and there and some rain towards the end. We got in some good running with the time available. The pace on the soft tyre is looking reasonably encouraging.



 Unfortunately for both of our cars, their supersoft runs were interrupted by the red flag of Sainz, so we didn’t get the best out of those. We got some good data from various experiments we were doing as well, so overall it was a good session.



FP2 was almost a complete washout, although we managed to get a lap or two with each car on the full wet tyre, again conducting some relevant experiments and getting some useful data.



 I feel sorry for the fans, who are incredibly enthusiastic, that they didn’t get any spectacle this afternoon, but hopefully the rest of the weekend will be dry.
 


Lance Stroll: It was a good day. FP1 was very positive, the car felt good and I really enjoyed driving on the circuit, as it is a lot of fun and very special.



Then, in FP2, there wasn't a lot of running with the rain, which was not easy as you never know where the limit is in such conditions. I just did one proper push lap and that was about it. It was not much of an afternoon, but all in all a good day.
 



Felipe Massa: It was not a very interesting day, to be honest. The first impression of the car here is that it is alright, but it’s difficult to say where we are compared to the others.



It was interesting to see how the car will behave, but in the rain I only did one lap. There was a lot of aquaplaning and standing water, so there wasn’t much we could do, this was mostly a day of waiting.



The forecast I just saw says it will rain this evening and stop for tomorrow, so maybe we will be driving in the dry. I hope that we can have a good day tomorrow.
 
 


 
Suzuka Circuit, Japan 5.807 km / 3.609 miles
     FP1    FP2
Weather    Overcast    Wet
Air & Track Temperatures    18-20°C / 22-24°C    15°C / 17-18°C

L Stroll, FW40-03    1:31.602 (14th)    1:52.343 (5th)

F Massa, FW40-04    1:31.902 (16th)    1:52.146 (4th)

Quickest Time    S. Vettel 1:29.166    L. Hamilton 1:48.719
 
 
 
 
-Sophie Ogg, photos Sutton