Mercedes F1 satisfied with its long stints at Sepang

Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton posted decent times at the end of the first day of free practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix, with the German setting the seventh fastest time in the second session while his teammate Lewis Hamilton finished ninth. For the Briton, the W04 keeps its tires well compared to the competition and the 2008 world champion hopes to take advantage of this for the race.

“We made positive progress with the settings during the two test sessions”, comments the former pilot McLaren. “I had a good long stint in the dry, which provided a lot of information to process this evening. We didn't learn too much in the wet this afternoon although the conditions were mixed when I went out. We mainly focused on the long runs today and I didn't do any fast laps with the different sets of tires. That will come tomorrow, but I am already satisfied with the direction taken. »

Nico Rosberg confirms that the main interest of Mercedes AMG F1 was to conserve the tires as best as possible on the very abrasive Sepang track rather than being competitive on a flying lap. The variable conditions in Malaysia could shake up the hierarchy tomorrow. “We worked a lot on long stints rather than being fast on one lap”, underlined the son of the 1982 world champion. “As we saw in Melbourne, tire management will be the key to success and that is our focus for this test. The conditions were difficult and the heat was incredible. We have learned a lot but we still have work to do. »