Car 2, Mark Webber
It was a nice change to get some good weather; its been the first dry weekend for a while. We have plenty to go through this evening, it was a smooth one for us today and we completed all the runs we wanted to. Its a challenging venue in terms of balance here, but the car ran well and we tested both tyres. We have areas where we can improve, mostly with the balance, so we have some work to do. Suzuka is a great track thats remained untouched for a long time, its a classic.
Car 1, Sebastian Vettel
The cars performing, but there are still some things we can improve. It was a bit nervous this morning, better this afternoon, but we need to make a step overnight. I think tomorrow will be very, very close, so everything we can get out of the car will matter. This circuit is so special; you have the people everywhere who are so passionate about F1almost crazy in a good wayand the track is fantastic, you have such nice high speed corners one after the other. Its so enjoyable, you dont want to come into the pits, but want to stay out on track.
STATISTICS
MARK WEBBER
First Practice Session
Position: 3, Best Time: 1:34.856, Laps: 24
Second Practice Session
Position: 1, Best Time: 1:32.493, Laps: 34
SEBASTIAN VETTEL
First Practice Session
Position: 17, Best Time: 1:36.366, Laps: 23
Second Practice Session
Position: 3, Best Time: 1:32.836, Laps: 37
RED BULL RACING REVEALED Racing in Formula One is truly a team effort and as such our championship challenge bears the signature of every department of Red Bull Racing, from reception to race track. But just how does each section of the factory contribute to the final result?
THIS RACE: THE STRATEGISTS
People think: They watch the telly, choose a lap to pit on and occasionally look at that little weather forecast map they always have on screen.
What they actually do is: Assemble masses of information before and during a race weekend and distil it down into a set of best options to get the cars to the end of the race in the highest possible positions. Our Head of Race Strategy Will Courtenay explains: Before a race weekend we look at data from last years race, as well as other races during the year. From that we try to build a picture of what we expect to see in the race. We discuss potential strategy models, but we also use a software tools that generate automated output and give a recommendation of the best kind of strategy to run. Once at the track, we do the Friday running and, if its dry, you can accumulate a lot of data, which allows us to update the pre-race predictions. We do the same for all the sessions in the run-up to the race and continually refine things. By Sunday you should have a good idea of what you will do in each kind of race scenario. We have back-up in the factory also. The hard thing is theres so much data you could get bogged down in trying to take it all in. Essentially my teams job is to pick out whats relevant, so that after a session, when the engineers and drivers sit down the correct information is in front of them. Despite all the analysis, you do sometimes get races that are very complicated and theres no clear answer. On those occasions its a combination of gut feel and looking at the available information. Sometimes you just have to react to what you see happening on track. Youve got your strategy options, but youre also watching whats happening in front of you, listening to the drivers on the radio, filtering the data coming through and trying plan your best way through the race. Its very intense, but thats the most enjoyable part.
