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Martin Whitmarsh, McLaren-Mercedes (Team Principal):
“An encouraging afternoon for Lewis, who used the full new aerodynamic package for P2. Although it is still early days, and I'm sure we've yet to see the strongest efforts from Red Bull Racing and Brawn GP, I think there are good signs of an improvement. It was a more difficult day for Heikki, who regrettably didn't have the new aerodynamic package upgrade, encountered traffic on his laps and generally had a much tougher afternoon. But he is a fighter, and I'm sure he'll have a strong weekend nonetheless.”
Norbert Haug, McLaren-Mercedes (Mercedes-Benz Motorsport Vice President):
“This looked quite encouraging, I have to say, and definitely better than I'd anticipated before the sessions today. We certainly did not post 'show times' four our home race; our speed was genuine and quite a bit better than in the last races. I certainly don't expect us to be fastest tomorrow, but if everything comes together we probably will be in a position to deliver a solid job on race day. Heikki's car today was not on the same technical level as Lewis's, which had new pieces that only arrived last night and which are not yet available in sufficient numbers. Our KERS hybrid is a good help around this circuit and gives us more than three tenths of a second per lap.”
Ross Brawn, Brawn-Mercedes (Team Principal):
“We made some useful progress today using our experience at previous events where the cold and damp conditions have proved more difficult for us. We do still have several areas of the car's performance to develop overnight to ensure that we have the best package for the rest of the weekend. The weather forecast suggests that conditions may be a little more favourable tomorrow, which combined with some work on the set-up overnight, should put us in a good position for qualifying.”
Dieter Gass, Toyota (Chief Engineer Race and Test):
“All in all it was a positive day for us. We had some new aero components which we assessed and got some useful information, while we had no technical problems on the car. The times were very tight with only a second covering the top 16 in the afternoon. It was pretty cold out there today with track temperatures more like a winter test than a Grand Prix in July but the weather is the same for everybody and we may have to get used to it for the weekend. The low track temperatures don't seem to have too much of a negative impact on us so it shouldn't be a problem. In terms of the tyres, the super soft compound seems to be working a bit better than expected for us. So for a Friday we are in a decent position but now we have to see what the weather does for the remainder of the weekend, especially on Sunday.”
Dominic Harlow, Force India-Mercedes (Chief Race Engineer):
“A very cold day here with a constant shower risk and both sessions declared wet, which is quite unusual in July. The car balance was good but the grip on the track was quite low in general. Adrian suffered a couple of unrelated mechanical issues disrupting both sessions but recovered well to carry out some thorough tyre evaluation. Giancarlo had a good FP1 and also showed that the car has some good potential this weekend. Unfortunately he was on track just as a shower wet the track and he had a spin at T10-11. We will now prepare for whatever the Eifel weather can throw at us over the coming weekend!”
Pat Symonds, Renault (Executive Director of Engineering):
“We had quite a successful Friday even though we had to keep one eye on the weather! We have a number of new aero parts here and it was necessary to evaluate those, which we managed to do and we're happy with their performance. In terms of the tyres, they seem to be performing in the same way for all the teams: the soft is working much better than we expected, but the hard tyre is a little difficult to warm up. Overall we are quite happy with the progress we have made.”
Sam Michael, Williams-Toyota (Technical Director):
“We worked through our programme, even though there was a little rain about this afternoon. It was pretty difficult given the gusty wind conditions today and with the track being cold, it was a challenge to generate the temperature to get the tyres up to the optimum grip level as quickly as possible. However, we managed to compare both tyres and check all the new aero parts we have on the car here. Overnight we will get our heads down and work on the set-up for tomorrow.”
Willy Rampf, BMW Sauber-BMW (Head of Engineering):
“With all the new parts on the car today for us it was important that we were able to conduct our comprehensive programme as planned. Now we have to analyse and compare the data we collected. The first analysis shows we made some progress with regard to the downforce level. But we have to make an improvement with the balance of the car. For Saturday we have to make the set-up as effective as possible.”
Stefano Domenicali, Ferrari (Team Principal):
“The situation is reasonably similar to that at the last race. Tomorrow, our aim is to get both cars into Q3 and then try for a good result on Sunday. We know that won't be at all easy, but, as always we will do all we can to succeed.”
Chris Dyer, Ferrari (Head of Engineering):
“It was rather a difficult day, with changing weather conditions and a few little technical glitches (Kimi's gearbox had an oil leak) which meant we had to compress our work programme. However, in the end, we managed to complete almost all the tasks on our list, including the evaluation of some new aerodynamic components. There is definitely more work to be done to get the balance right on the car, in order to achieve our objectives which are to get both cars into Q3 and to do well in the race. The low temperatures do not suit us, especially when it comes to doing a good time on the first flying lap.”
Hirohide Hamashima, Bridgestone (Director of Tyre Development):
“Today it was good to see Formula One cars back at the Nurburgring after a year away. It was a cold reception we received from the weather, so maintaining tyre temperature was a challenge. The cold weather and also the wind experienced here makes matters difficult, however a second covered the top thirteen cars in the afternoon, which shows that everyone is very close on pace for this weekend.
“It's an interesting circuit here and, as illustrated today, there is always the factor of the weather too. After the British Grand Prix there was a lot of talk of tyre temperatures and how the front running teams and drivers use their tyres. I would not be surprised if that is also a topic this weekend. If it stays cold like today then the super soft could even be the preferred race tyre. For the medium compound, getting temperature into the tyre is the challenge, for the super soft, minimising graining is the challenge.”
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