Carlos Sainz led F1's Friday free practice session at Silverstone, but didn't come out as optimistic. The Spaniard still sees Ferrari as being able to evolve more and highlighted the full day of tests he had to win
Carlos Sainz set the fastest lap in TL2 on Friday (1) at Silverstone. In practice, it was the only session of the day, as the first free practice was totally affected by rain. Even so, the Spaniard showed a lot of caution and sees Ferrari still with room for more than it showed on the first day.
Carlos turned 1min28s942 in a lap that seemed far from ideal. The Spaniard didn't have a great first sector and made a little mistake in the second, but he still closed the day ahead. Balance was the hallmark of TL2, which had Mercedes, McLaren, and Red Bull also in the top-4 alongside the Ferrari driver.
"It was a full TL2 after the lack of track time from TL1. We needed to put in place an intense activity plan in TL2 to really check our paces in long and short stints. It was a very challenging session," said Sainz.
For the Spaniard, besides the reduced track time, another challenge was the wind with the setup and tires. Sainz still believes that Silverstone should have a wet track for the grid definition, which makes the scenario change compared to TL2.
"The wind made things more complicated in relation to the correct setup in the high-speed sectors and also in relation to the tires in the low corners. In general we were fast, but we still seem to have room for improvement. The qualifying will be interesting because of the weather, so the wet laps in TL1 will be useful," he added.
GRANDE PRÊMIO follows LIVE and INREAL TIME all the activities of the British GP weekend. On Saturday, TL3 opens the day at 8am (GMT-3), while qualifying starts at 11am.