French GP: Post-Friday practice reaction from Vettel and Lance

Aston Martin and Sebastian Vettel found a sweet spot with their car setup for last two races, which yielded first ever F1 podium for the new comers. They would like to keep the positive momentum going in the French GP, the start of first triple header.

Sebastian Vettel had a mixed day at French GP practice session. The first practice session took place in tricky conditions with high winds affecting the balance of the cars on a flat track surface, which led to a series of incidents across the field that disrupted the hour’s running.

The German managed to complete a total of 16 laps in the morning session, with best lap of 1:35.289, which is good enough for P15 in the final classification. But a spin at Le Beausset disrupted his programme and forced him to return the AMR21 to the garage with minor damages.

Lance was able to set a marginally faster time than his team-mate by posting a 1:35.275 for 14th, one place ahead of Sebastian. Stroll managed to complete 23 laps in the morning session.

Settled and warmer conditions for the second practice session proved more optimal and it took just one flying lap on the Softs for both drivers to improve their FP1 benchmarks.

Vettel posted fastest time of 1:34.447 to finish P15 in the final classification ahead of his team mate Lance in P16, who managed to post fastest time of 1:34.632. Vettel and Lance completed 25 & 24 Laps respectively in the second practice session.

After completing 88 Laps and collecting data on Friday, Aston Martin has lot of work to do before important qualifying session on Saturday.

Typically Friday practice sessions are for finding right balance with the car setup and coming up with better car for Saturday’s qualifying and Sunday’s race, so one should not read too much into Friday timings.

Sebastian Vettel

“The track conditions were hot and very windy, which caught me out this morning when I had a small off. It cost us some track time, but we recovered well in the afternoon.

“The long run was clean and we managed to get some consecutive laps together, which was important. My performance run was not the best and I made a mistake, but today is about getting a feel for the car to make sure we perform in qualifying.

“I think we know where we can find gains and there are some things we can do better, which is where we will focus our energy tonight.”

Lance Stroll

“It was really hot out there today, and very gusty at times, which made for some tricky conditions because it is a low-grip track surface.

“It was particularly windy early in the day, but we were able to get into a rhythm and work through our programme. We have learned some useful things about the car balance and done some important homework.

“However, I think we are leaving some pace out there, so we will go away tonight, look over everything and try to come back stronger tomorrow.

“The midfield is already looking very close this weekend, so small gains can certainly make a difference; that is what we will be aiming to find for qualifying.”