2007 Chinese Grand Prix Free Practice Report
Adrian Sutil (car 20, F8-VII/03):
FP1: 22nd 1:40.149 (26 laps)
FP2: 19th 1:39.224 (37 laps)
Sakon Yamamoto (car 21, F8-VII/04):
FP1: 21st 1:40.126 (27 laps)
FP2: 22nd 1:40.051 (38 laps)
Weather: Highs of 28 C ambient, 33 C track in the morning,
29 C, 39 C in the afternoon. Hot and humid throughout the
day.
5 October 2007 - The Etihad Aldar Spyker Formula One Team
had a productive opening day of the Chinese Grand Prix today
at the Shanghai International Circuit.
Drivers Adrian Sutil and Sakon Yamamoto were able to complete
their programmes of set-up work and tyre comparisons, putting
in longer runs in the afternoon's warmer session. 'Green',
slippery track conditions initially led to many drivers' having
off-road excursions, but as temperatures increased and more
rubber was laid down lap times improved.
Adrian, making his Shanghai debut this weekend, recorded
the team's best time of the day of 1:39.224 in the second
practice, putting him 19th overall and within one second of
the top 12. Sakon also completed a solid day's work, although
both drivers did struggle to find a comfortable balance on
the harder tyre option available.
After a final practice tomorrow morning, Qualifying will
start at 14:00 local time.
Adrian Sutil (car 20)
'At the beginning of the day, the track was nearly undriveable
and it was very difficult just to stay on track. By the end
of the day it was much better and I think we can expect a
further improvement tomorrow. We did long runs on both the
hard and soft tyre option, and found that the balance was
definitely better on the softer tyres. On a new soft option,
the runs were quite good, but with the hard tyre we just don't
seem to be able to make them work at the moment and I think
we need to wait until the track gets a bit more grip. Overall
it was a normal good day though and I am quite happy going
into the weekend from this basis.'
Sakon Yamamoto (car 21)
'Today we didn't have any problems and could get through our
programme and, importantly, could collect a lot of data. In
the afternoon we tried out both types of tyres, but unfortunately
at the end of the second session when we had a new set of
tyres we couldn't make the most of them and improve our times.
We have to investigate why now so we can try and go forward
tomorrow.'
Mike Gascoyne, chief technical officer
'It was a reasonably productive day on both cars. Adrian started
to learn the circuit, although it was very difficult in the
low grip conditions. The track did improve slightly towards
the end of the day, but overall we look competitive with the
group in front as in the previous races. We now have to work
a little bit harder to find that bit of performance for tomorrow.'
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