At a wet Interlagos circuit in Brazil, Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton finished their practice sessions in P1 and P5.
The drivers completed a total of just 48 laps today, just over half a race distance, in wet conditions at Interlagos.
With further rain forecast, the priority was to save sets of fresh wet tires for sessions later in the weekend.
Both drivers were able to set competitive times in the wet conditions on both types of wet tire.
Nico Rosberg
Today I had a good start into the weekend, and I was very quick in the rain even though we don’t really know about the fuel levels of the other teams. Therefore we need to read the time sheets with some caution. But generally I have higher hopes now that perhaps we can give Red Bull a hard time this weekend. We all know that the weather plays always a big role here at Interlagos and can catch you out. We were not able to run that much but the track feels really great and it was great fun to be out there and find the limit in these difficult conditions.
Lewis Hamilton
The conditions were tricky out there today and it’s a real shame for the fans that they didn’t get to see more action on track. Of course, it’s frustrating for us drivers to be sitting in the garage for so long but I really feel for everyone who has made the effort to come here to the track. We were able to get some running during the two sessions and that will be useful as the conditions for the rest of the weekend look pretty much the same. I’m struggling a little to get the feel of the car in the wet, and that’s really been the same for me with our car all season, so we have some work to do overnight to see where we can make improvements. I’d really prefer a dry weekend but that’s out of our hands.
Ross Brawn
That was an interesting day which could well be relevant for the rest of the weekend – certainly for tomorrow and perhaps even for Sunday. The balance of the car wasn’t too bad on either the intermediate or the full wet tires but, in common with our rivals, we don’t have any data on how it will be in dry conditions. Overall, it was a useful and straightforward day in the context of preparations for the possibility of a wet qualifying session or race.
Toto Wolff
We had two decent sessions today, which further confirmed the tendency already seen this season that our car performs well in mixed conditions. However, the forecast is so inconsistent that we need to ensure we have the right compromise for both wet and dry as we cannot assume it will be a wet race. So we will be working hard overnight to make sure we are in good shape whatever the weather.
