Force India Abu Dhabi GP Friday practice report
Force India press release
Free practice objectives:
FP1: Co-ordinated aero tests on both cars, wing level evaluation
FP2: Tyre data collection and continued race set-up
Adrian Sutil
Adrian: “The track had very low grip to begin with, but we found quite a good baseline starting point with the car right away. The main focus was on improving the traction out of the low-speed corners because that’s what this circuit is all about. We also worked a lot on finding the optimum wing levels and seem to have found a good solution so far. As for the tyres, we did most of the work in the second session to simulate the conditions we will get on Sunday evening. Both tyres seem to be performing well with quite low degradation.”
Paul Di Resta
Paul: “I think looking at where we’ve ended up we should be pretty happy with today’s work. In the first session I was struggling with rear grip and it wasn’t easy to lean on the car. There was also quite a lot of front locking. But in the second session we started to get on top of those issues and got quite close to a decent set-up. I think we can still make some steps tomorrow and look to find more low-speed stability, but overall we’re not in bad shape.”
As usual. FP2 was more about the tyres and race set-up
Dominic Harlow, Circuit Engineering Director
“We carried out some co-ordinated aero tests on both cars during FP1 and of course looked at wing level for the race. There was also some set-up work as usual. FP2 was more about the tyres and race set-up as the temperature and track conditions reflect more closely the twilight timing of this race. Also available to us, and useful for our programmes, were two sets of a development soft tyre from Pirelli which looked positive.”
Adrian Sutil (VJM04/04)
FP1: P7 1.41.340 23 laps
FP2: P8 1:40.951 34 laps
Paul Di Resta (VJM04/02)
FP1: P9 1:42.151 28 laps
FP2: P9 1:41.021 37 laps
Share Or Save This Story
When Paul Di Resta beat Sebastian Vettel to the F3 title
Paul Di Resta cautious about the WEC's future: "What's good never lasts forever"
Why Peugeot swapped Jean-Eric Vergne for Stoffel Vandoorne in WEC 2026
Otmar Szafnauer reveals failed Kimi Raikkonen bid involving "Angry Birds" founders
Esteban Ocon explains why he collided with Sergio Perez so often at Force India
Former Force India F1 boss Fernley dies aged 70
Ferrari "too late" to prioritise Lewis Hamilton in F1 title fight, says Jolyon Palmer
F1 Spanish GP: George Russell tops FP1 as Lewis Hamilton impedes several drivers
James Hinchcliffe warns Fred Vasseur faces "tremendous" pressure over Ferrari team orders
George Russell 'overanalysing everything' as Kimi Antonelli extends F1 lead, says former driver
What F1's risky Madrid bet needs to get right in order to pay off
The deeper meaning of Vettel’s emotional Schumacher demo run at Monza
Why new Madrid F1 circuit will be a "challenging" test of cars and engines
Lewis Hamilton and Fred Vasseur recall GP2 title and 'most impressive race ever', 20 years on
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments