According to Hamilton, Mercedes is second

Bottas: Alfa Romeo can put both cars in the top ten

The Finn is optimistic after today’s P12, especially since teammate Zhou finished 10th. He feels comfortable in the car,” especially with the setup from the FT2,” he explains. There are only small things that need adjustment.

“I feel ready for the weekend,” he says confidently, explaining: “The midfield is very tight, so it’s not easy to get into the top 10. But it’s a realistic goal for us if we get everything right.”

“I had a little problem in the second practice session, there was a lack of pace on the straights. We have to control that and then I think we are in a good position,” said Bottas.

The cost of the problem is “0.2 to 0.3” seconds. If you subtracted that from his time, he would have finished before Chu.

Hulkenberg: Aston Martin is not fooling around

The German also commented on his former team and confirmed that the strong performance after the test no longer surprised him. “If you look at the board and see that if you can read Fernando’s body language, you already know it’s appropriate,” he explains.

“Aston looks strong today,” he says. “But this is just a snapshot,” he confirms and states: “We haven’t done any races yet. It can always be postponed. In Jeddah, the asphalt is completely different, completely different characteristics.”

“It can change back there. That’s why I always say: It’s all subject to change. We’ve only moved on one track so far and have improved and adjusted it. It’s exciting to see how things change after that in a twist in different ways,” says Hülkenberg.

What was going on with Magnussen?

The Haas co-pilot only landed in the P16. Why are you so far away from your teammates? “We tried something on the second practice session, but it just didn’t work,” says Magnussen.

“It’s still nice to try something, especially since you’re still fiddling with the car a lot at this early stage,” he explains. However, Hülkenberg’s timing was “very positive” because: “It’s nice to be fast on one lap.”

Long distances look a little different. “I would say it’s the biggest problem, but I don’t know. Niko’s long run looked okay. I didn’t actually have a real long run. We’ll see,” Magnussen said.

Haas seems to be quite the grab bag this weekend.

Hulkenberg: Haas “somewhere in midfield”

“I think he was OK,” said the relaxed German on his return. “For one lap he looks OK.” But: “In the long run we still have a lot of homework to do and improve,” he admits.

“But if we’re somewhere in midfield and hopefully close to the third quarter, it wouldn’t be so bad on Saturday. But it’s much more important where you stand on Sunday,” said Hulkenberg, who explained. this context.”

“There are a lot of teams involved. […] I think the little things can make a big difference, three or four places,” he explains.

Is stroll really good?

The Canadian has been known to underestimate his injury. Now, however, recordings have emerged showing that after FT2 he apparently could not get out of the car without outside help. Let’s hope he doesn’t exaggerate!

Leclerc: No chance of pole

His P4 today behind Alonso and the Red Bulls. “Let’s say the feeling was better than in the test,” Monaco sums up. That was positive. On the other hand, Red Bull seems to be ‘a lot ahead of everyone else’,” said Leclerc.

“Also, Aston looks very strong,” he adds, emphasizing: “I think we probably don’t have pole position performance.” This weekend is all about taking advantage of opportunities that arise.

The biggest job ahead is racing speed, according to Leclerc. But you never know for sure how fast the others are. But he doesn’t sound really optimistic either.

McLaren: set up ‘right’

At least McLaren did better than the test. Norris finished the day in P9 even in the top 10, rookie Piastri was 15th and stated: “I still make some mistakes here and there so I’m not 100% happy with myself.”

“But I have the impression that we are in a good position,” he affirms. Norris also talks about a “proper” Friday. Word of the day looks at McLaren. He definitely felt “more comfortable” than during the test.

But at the same time he also knows: “We still have to find plenty of round times to compete and fight with the guys we want to fight.” Because that was too far today.

But after the mixed test, you have to bake smaller rolls first.

picnic hand

We’ve already talked a lot about the scene, and now here it is again in the video. Pay close attention to how Stroll changes hands – and of course time is wasted as a result.

Formula 1 returns to free TV

Good news for all Formula 1 fans: although the races will go live and exclusively on Sky in 2023, this year there will be a special offer on free TV on Sport1.

Highlights should usually be watched for about one hour on a Sunday evening. The commentator will be Peter Cole, with Christian Danner also a long-term RTL expert on board.

Sainz: Tougher than expected

At Ferrari too, optimism was limited after Friday. “Friday was more complicated than we originally expected,” Sainz admits. He couldn’t manage his fast lap and only ended up on P14.

But apart from that, things didn’t go well. “The balance was different and we adjusted the car between sessions to correct for the biggest limitations,” he says.

He was “confident” that one could take another step forward on Saturday. However, this should be a huge step if you look at the list of time and long runs as well…

AlphaTauri scene…

…in pit lane here again in the video. A rare case… but as we know, there is no punishment.

Hamilton: It could be further than 2022

Even the record holder isn’t excited at all. He sums up at the end of Friday: “We realized we were a long way off.” “It’s a huge gap,” he asserts, sounding anything but optimistic.

Neither the short nor the long run will feel good. Red Bull was a second quicker on the long run. “So we have a lot of work to do,” he sighs. Because the setting was already correct.

In other words: there simply isn’t much in the current package. You only get “milliseconds” with setting. “But that doesn’t close a single second gap,” he explains.

You’re going back to 2022, “if you’re not stepping away a little bit,” said Hamilton. Ouch!

Russell: The car’s not in the right window yet

There was nothing you would see from Mercedes today. P8 and P13 are on the time list and in the long run you don’t have a chance against the top. Russell knows you have to “investigate” and take a look.

Some of the other bands, he explains, seem “too strong”. “Aston Martin is of course the biggest surprise. They obviously did a very good job in the winter,” he said in praise of the customer team.

It’s hard to say where you stand, says Russell. But obviously it should be faster. You have to get the car into the window “where we can fully exploit its potential”.

This is clearly not the case at the moment.

Hiking: Can ride all weekend

We return to Aston Martin. What about an injured picnic? “I feel fine, although I’m a bit rusty. But overall it was good in the car today,” the Canadian said it all.

Regarding the previously mentioned scene, when he said on the radio that he couldn’t drive a certain line because of his hand, he put it straight: “I wanted to [die verletzte Hand] protection. I felt more comfortable.”

“I definitely feel like I can drive,” he explains.

No penalty for AlphaTauri

Can we also quickly flag this: There is no penalty against AlphaTauri for an insecure release. In short, both drivers are said to have acted appropriately in the situation and prevented contact. Case closed.

Here is the full brief explanation:

“The team released Car 21 from its garage as Car 4 was approaching. The driver of Car 21 responded and stopped before reaching the fast lane. Both drivers reacted appropriately and no contact occurred.”

Alonso: Don’t think about the poles

So back to the fastest man of the day. “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel good,” he says of AMR23. “It’s all about what other teams do,” he warns.

“And maybe you can feel good in your car, but when there are three or four cars that are faster, suddenly you don’t feel comfortable anymore. So let’s wait and see where we are,” said the two-time world champion.

When asked about a possible starting point for tomorrow, he explained: “I don’t think it’s that high, if I’m being honest. I really don’t know what a good position it could be for us. After the test drive, we were considering Q3 with both cars.”

Now that seems an understatement…