Red Bull had what can only be described as a perfect Friday in Japan. Sebastian Vettel was fastest in both practice sessions, and teammate Mark Webber was second in both. Both drivers completed over 50 laps, and there were no technical problems.
Vettel sounds very happy with his efforts. He is in Japan desperate to get is title charge back on track and, after a successful Friday, not even the prospect of Saturday rain can dampen his spirits.
“We had a trouble free Friday, which is the most important thing, especially on a track like this where you need to get into a rhythm with all the quick corners following each other.” says the German, who won this race from pole last year. “The car was reliable and I had a good feeling, the pace looks okay too.”
“The forecast suggests rain, but there's no reason why we shouldn't be competitive in the wet. The conditions have been quite inconsistent during all the wet races that we've had so far this year, so it's hard to know what everyone's pace will be.”
Webber is also confident that he can still perform well in the forecast rain tomorrow, and was also pleased with the team’s performance advantage this weekend. “A good day, we couldn't have asked for much more – we had faultless running and got a lot of mileage,” he says. “The team put the cars together well and we had a smooth day. The balance of the car feels good although it's a circuit with lots of different types of corners, so you can't have everything – you need to work out what the priorities are for the best lap times.
“We're not sure what the weather's going to do tomorrow, it looks as though it may be a bit wet, but we've got good info in the bank, so we're ready for what happens.”
