The second free practice session ended as the Yas Marina circuit changed into its brilliant night time attire. The spectacle did not distract Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa as they posted the eighth and tenth fastest times respectively.
At the end of a long afternoon in Abu Dhabi, the two F138s got through their programme without a hitch, with Fernando covering 31 laps and Felipe 36. Both men started the session with a run of 9 laps on the Medium tyre, before pitting for Softs on which they ran a qualifying simulation. Their best times were 1.42.171 for Alonso and 1.42.440 for Massa.
In the final 40 minutes the work switched to race simulation as the track temperature gradually dropped, just as it will do in Sunday’s race. Quickest today were the two Red Bulls; Sebastian Vettel posting a 1.41.335, beating team-mate Mark Webber by 0.155 seconds.
Fernando Alonso: “Compared to other Fridays, today we were a bit less competitive than usual and now we need to work out if that is down to the fact that the track characteristics do not suit our car, or if it’s a question of set-up. The tyres work better here than in India, where they suffered a lot from blistering in the fast corners, while here they are better, especially at night when the temperature drops. Unfortunately, in performance terms, we are behind our rivals for second place in the Constructors’ classification. Compared to the start of the year, they have improved and will be difficult to beat, but tomorrow we will make some changes and will do our utmost because we absolutely don’t want to give up the fight”.
Felipe Massa: “Today we got through the entire programme we had planned for this day, concentrating on set-up and the behaviour of the two Pirelli compounds. At the moment, I am not very pleased with the car’s behaviour, as we are not as competitive as I’d expected to be. On this track, we found ourselves running in daytime in the sunshine, with very high temperatures, with the conditions changing completely in the evening and in this situation, it’s not easy to understand which direction to go in. Now we will try and work out how to improve the car’s performance for tomorrow’s qualifying, which we know won’t be easy, but we’ll give it our best shot”.
Pat Fry: “As far as the work programme was concerned, this was a Friday like any other, but when it comes to the results it was rather complicated. We had a few small aerodynamic components to try and the analysis crossed over the performance of both cars, which provided enough data to choose the best configuration for the race. Here, in order to establish the best set-up, you have to take into consideration the changing track conditions between the first and second sessions. In both of them, we struggled to find the right grip level, especially on the Medium compound. In the late afternoon, the situation got better and we worked on the balance of the cars, but the results were not that satisfactory. The performance difference between the two compounds is very high and some cars, including ours, made up almost two seconds a lap. This unusual difference in performance from the Medium tyres clearly shows what a margin for improvement there is and that’s why tonight, we will evaluate solutions better suited to giving our drivers a more competitive car”.
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