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Singapore Grand Prix - Free Practice Round-Up |
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Friday, 26 September 2008 |
Today's Weather: Hot and dry throughout, air temperature 28-29°C, track temperature 27-30°C
Take Note:
To prepare for racing at night, illuminated pit boards and lollipops
are being used while, the steering wheel display has been adjusted and
the drivers tried out different visors.
Timo Glock (Car 12, Chassis TF108-07)
Summary:
Trouble-free sessions of acclimatisation, tyre and set-up work until a
late spin at turn seven in second practice, damaging the nose against a
barrier.
P1 13th Best Lap Time: 1m 47.706s (+2.188s) Laps: 27
P2 10th Best Lap Time: 1m 47.046s (+1.392s) Laps: 22
"They
were both quite difficult sessions for me today. The track is really
bumpy and the car is quite tricky to handle at the moment. It was a
different experience driving in the lights and the whole track is a bit
unusual. At the end of second practice I just lost the car when I hit a
kerb and that was it, I made contact with the barrier. But that didn't
affect our programme and overall we got through a lot of work today, so
it was successful in that sense. So far I am not totally happy with the
car and we have quite
a lot to improve but I will sit down with my engineers and I'm sure we
will make progress before qualifying. We will see how it goes
tomorrow."
Jarno Trulli (Car 11, Chassis TF108-05)
Summary:
Spun in first session and fined €10,000 for crossing the white line on
entering the pit lane after that incident. Otherwise concluded a
programme of acclimatisation to the new track and night conditions.
Worked on set-up and tyre comparisons in second practice.
P1 19th Best Lap Time: 1m 49.064s (+3.546s) Laps: 29
P2 19th Best Lap Time: 1m 48.059s (+2.405s) Laps: 28
"We
have been improving gradually throughout the two sessions. We are
trying to find the right set-up and we have changed quite a lot on the
car. It is really bumpy out there and I struggled a little bit with
driving at night because there are some dark spots which make it a bit
harder than normal. To be honest the circuit is not particularly
challenging for a driver because it is mainly made up of
90° corners but I hope it will be a good spectacle for the fans. In
first practice unfortunately I had a spin at the last corner and I
wanted to move off the racing line as safely as possible, so I decided
to go down the pit lane. I took the quickest and safest option
available to me and the other cars. I have been penalised and I accept
that but I know I did the safest thing for me and the other drivers -
it is one of the quickest corners on the track and you don't want to
have a crash there."
Dieter Gass, Chief Engineer Race and Test
"We
should say congratulations to the organisers who have prepared a
fantastic facility here. I think it is going to be a very exciting
race; it is the first time Formula 1 will race in the night and all the
ingredients are there for an interesting weekend. In general the track
is a bit bumpier than we expected so that is something we have to adapt
to and that situation is the same for everybody. In terms of running at
night, we had no real issues, although the drivers were commenting that
there were some areas which were a bit darker than expected, but in
general it was fine. Today the track was evolving throughout, as you
would expect with a new street circuit like this. Obviously it was very
dirty in the beginning but then it rubbered in. We still have some work
to do on the set-ups before qualifying, but we got through a lot of
work
today so we have plenty of data to study."
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