F1 Sao Paulo - FRI - Free Practice (VMM)

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

Sao Paulo, Brazil, Nov 05, 2010

A busy first day at Interlagos

LEWIS HAMILTON
- MP4-25A-02
- P1 programme: 24 laps, 1m12.845s (+0.517s), 3rd
- P2 programme: 33 laps, 1m12.656s (+0.688s), 4th

�The car felt good today - I�m getting everything out of it - but I still felt it needs just a little more downforce.


�Still, I�m optimistic for qualifying tomorrow - especially if it rains, which I�m told it probably will. This year�s car is much better than last year�s car in the wet, so I feel confident that if it rains we should be able to fight for the front row.

�In terms of pure pace in the dry, the Red Bull looks very quick. But a number of factors will play a part in deciding how things pan out in the next two Grands Prix - weather, engines, reliability - so it�s all still up for grabs.�

JENSON BUTTON
- MP4-25A-01
- P1 programme: 24 laps, 1m13.267s (+0.939s), 4th
- P2 programme: 33 laps, 1m13.206s (+1.238s), 7th

�We spent today playing about with the balance. The car feels good in high-speed corners, but we still need to work on the front end of the car in low-speed corners.

�Towards the end of today�s running, on higher fuel, the car felt pretty good, which was encouraging.

�The weather forecast says it looks like rain tomorrow, so it�ll be interesting to see how that affects qualifying.

�I think our race car should be good - and that�s important because Sunday should be dry. Hopefully, our race set-up won�t be too compromised by the anticipated wet conditions in qualifying tomorrow.�

MARTIN WHITMARSH
Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

�Today was an extremely busy day of testing for us as we gathered data on a number of new components, including floor modifications and a selection of rear wings.

�Both drivers reported that the car wasn�t as well-balanced as they�d ideally like, but we feel we have enough data to be able to effect some very positive changes ahead of running tomorrow.

�Neither Jenson nor Lewis was able to set optimal lap times during their option-tyre runs, owing to a yellow flag adversely affecting their running. However, our long-run pace looks particularly encouraging and is a very good basis for Sunday�s race.

�In the meantime, the weather forecasters are predicting an 80 percent chance of rain tomorrow - and that will inevitably have some influence over some of the decisions we take this evening - but we believe we�re heading in the right direction for the rest of the weekend.�









* Official details courtesy of VODAFONE MCLAREN MERCEDES *

Source of the photos >> F1 Fanatic

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