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The first Friday of the F1 Russian GP. Red Bull Racing and Alpha Tauri Honda Honda, which are equipped with the Honda F1 power unit, did many test drives and had a busy day.
Starting today, Red Bull Racing’s Felstappen, Alpha Tauri Honda’s Guthrie and Kubiat have introduced new ICEs, turbochargers, MGU-H and MGU-K. It is in line with the annual PU usage plan and is not related to problems at Mugero.
FP1 that started race week was hit by red and yellow flags multiple times, but it was a fruitful session for both teams. While other drivers suffered from low grip conditions, Felstappen scored third with a strong run. Kubiat was seventh in FP1 at his home circuit as he turned the last corner. With a difference of 0.024 seconds, Arbon was 8th and Guthrie 10th, and all four PU-equipped Honda cars finished FP in the top 10 of all cars, making a good start.
The next FP2 was a session where the weather didn’t improve one bit. Like Kubiato in FP1, Felstappen spun into the last corner of FP2 and finished the session in seventh place overall. Guthrie was 11th, followed by Arbon 12th and Kubiat 13th, just 0.1 seconds behind Felstappen. Guthrie, who doesn’t have a 0.5-second time difference to the top four, is ranked 11th, so you can see that this time it will be a close battle.
Honda F1 was able to gather a great deal of data needed for this race week through 133-lap laps in which four machines ran on the first Friday afternoon.
Toyoji Tanabe (Honda F1 Technical Director)
“The first day of the Russian GP has ended, the first race to leave the European continent. It was a quiet day with no major problems, and two teams and four machines were able to rack up many laps. I did not get very good results in terms of position due to the slippery roads, the traffic during the session and the balance of the machine was not decided yet. From here, I analyzed the data collected today and the bodywork. ・ We will optimize both PUs and prepare for tomorrow’s session and later. “
Max Felstappen (Red Bull Honda)
“This field in Sochi is not a good match for us, but today we tested different levels of downforce in both sessions to see which was the best option. FP2 gave a bit better results. I should have been able to do it, but I was able to test everything in the race. machine, it worked and sometimes it didn’t work, but I was able to find a good direction for tomorrow’s qualifying. Tomorrow’s qualifying will be a tough fight so it can be a bit difficult to get into the top three. However, I’m eager for race pace because I feel like I can fight well. Renault’s good condition shows too. But I think we should first focus on determining the correct level of downforce. Qualifying will be closed and we’ll have to make some more adjustments to get up on the podium. This racing week looks like a good fight. “
Alexander Alban (Red Bull Honda)
“Sochi is one of the circuits we’re good at, and it’s a field that can’t be said in the past, and it seemed like the impression didn’t change even after free practice today. Max and I (Felstappen) have tried different things on each of the machines, and I hope I can find a setup to improve them. I was expecting this racing week to be a difficult race. As the competition level has risen, it will be a close battle as we saw in today’s session The feeling of running wasn’t that bad, but at the same time I didn’t feel any particular speed, so there is a big challenge to improve as much as possible and prepare for qualifying. On a circuit where the tires are hard like this, how to handle them is the key. If you can find the optimal balance of the machine, you can do a short run. You can show your speed, and the same goes for long runs. At this stage, something is missing in both cases, so I’d like to find improvements for tomorrow’s qualifying. “
Daniel Kubiato (Alpha Tauri Honda)
“I did some tests today and it was a satisfying first day because I ran a lot of laps. I still need to adjust the balance of the machine, but I will try several things and make adjustments for qualifying on Saturday. I think that is the way to spend Friday, it is expected It’s hot this week of racing, but we’re trying to get the most out of the car in any condition. I want to come. I think if we can make enough adjustments tonight to tomorrow morning, we can advance to Q3 qualifying. “.
Pierre Guthrie (Alpha Tauri Honda)
“It was not a clean session due to the virtual safety car and the interruption of the red flag in FP1, but I think it was not bad in FP2. Our race pace seems to be good. I have a good feeling about the balance of the race. long-term machine. I think there is still something to be done to aspire to advance into Q3 in qualifying, so I think I can make improvements based on tonight’s analysis and take another step forward tomorrow.
Category: F1 / Honda F1 / Red Bull / Russian F1 GP / Alpha Tauri
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