Suzuka Circuit, Friday October 5LEWIS HAMILTONMP4-27A-04FP1 1m34.740s (+0.233s) 26 laps 2ndFP2 1m32.707s (+0.214s) 32 laps 2nd
I have the coolest job! Suzuka is such a phenomenal circuit!
The first lap out of the pits felt great. Just driving through the first couple of corners and feeling the acceleration, it takes a few laps to get warmed up, but you keep getting faster and faster as you push the limits.
But you need to be careful. At Spoon we saw a few people making mistakes today. If you put a wheel on the dirt, its very easy to lose the car.As always, well be fine-tuning the car tonight ahead of tomorrows sessions, but it looks very close between ourselves and Red Bull. I feel comfortable with our carits the best that its ever been around hereand I think I could have matched Marks [Webber] fastest time with an optimal lap.Its going to be very close in qualifying tomorrow.JENSON BUTTONMP4-27A-03FP1 1m34.507s 20 laps 1stFP2 1m33.349s (+0.856s) 22 laps 7thI love Japan. This is a crazy race for methe fans are fantastic, theyre true supporters of all the drivers, and they get so excited about the sport. Also, theres such a flow about this circuit. Its important to find the right gear ratios though, because youre up and down the gearbox all the time.I didnt do too many laps in FP2: the balance wasnt quite right and we knew we couldnt go back on the changes wed made until after the session, so there wasnt any point doing too much running.
Still, we know how to dial the car in for FP3 tomorrow, and thats the important thing. The car felt good this morning, so well go back to something similar with just a few detail changes.Overall, the car is working well here. Qualifying will be very competitive, but I think well be up there.MARTIN WHITMARSH
Team principal, Vodafone McLaren MercedesIts always a thrill to arrive at Suzukaits a mighty motorsport amphitheatre, and a place which showcases Formula 1 at its finest, whether its through the graceful, high-speed sector-one Esses, the pincer-sharp Degner apices or the great sweeping arc of Spoon.
We spent the morning evaluating and experimenting with a handful of useful new components that we wanted to compare. For FP2, we were conducting set-up experiments across the garage and well assimilate that data tonight in order to determine the cars optimum configuration for qualifying and the race. We got some extremely useful data, and that will all filter into the work we do ahead of FP3 tomorrow.Both Jenson and Lewis were happy with their cars today. Of course, Jensons five-place grid penalty is unfortunate, but, while it puts us on the back-foot, Im still convinced that he, along with Lewis, will be able to fight for victory on Sunday.
