Ferrari: We can still improve

The two Ferraris topped the time sheet at the end of the second free practice session for the Chinese Grand Prix, during which they worked on a programme aimed at preparation for Sunday’s race.

The track had rubbered in since the morning and in these conditions Kimi Raikkonen posted a 1.36.896 ahead of Sebastian Vettel’s 1.37.005.

Behind them came the Mercedes duo of Nico Rosberg (1.37.133) and Lewis Hamilton (1.37.329.) Sebastian started the session on the Medium tyres, with Kimi running the Softs, after which they both switched to the Supersofts.

Kimi Raikkonen: “It has been quite a difficult day overall, I was struggling to get the grip on the tires probably due to the wind. I was sliding a lot and this feeling was not very nice. When I put the Supersofts they seemed to work better, I had more grip and this helped to have a pretty good lap. We’ll see how the weather conditions turn out to be tomorrow, we’ll try to make a good day and then get the maximum out of the race.”

Sebastian Vettel: “Friday is not so important in terms of position but in terms of feeling. We had a decent day and the feeling with the car was ok, but we can still improve, especially the balance. Tonight we’ll have a lot of work to do, in order to get on top of everything. For sure to go for pole is always our goal, but it’s only Friday so I would’t stress too much. This track is quite brutal on tyres, I was sliding a lot and there was a lot of degradation. I looked at Kimi’s data and saw where he was faster. This afternoon we had different programmes and this is useful to make a comparison because we can learn from each other.”