HRT drivers Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan both failed to get what they wanted out of Friday practice as a combination of poor weather and unreliability hampered them. De la Rosa got a taste of Hockenheim in the dry this morning but missed the best of the conditions in the afternoon due to a brake problem and the Spaniard is looking to get some work done in time for qualifying.
“Today was a bit of a strange day, but I'm happy to have been able to run this morning on primes and one last stint on intermediate tyres. That way, if it doesn't rain in the race, we've got a small idea of what we can encounter and if tomorrow the track is wet, which it seems it will be, at least we've got an idea of what it can be like. The mechanics did a good job to get the car out today and now we must work on the set-up for tomorrow”.
Dani Clos drove the sister car in the morning, meaning Karthikeyan didn't get any dry track time whatsoever. As a result, the Indian driver is bracing himself for a tough day tomorrow.
“It wasn't my best day because I didn't run in the morning and FP2 was wet. It wasn't very productive and if tomorrow is dry I will be facing completely new conditions. But it looks like it's going to rain tomorrow so today's data will be useful. I expect it to be tough tomorrow but I'm ready for the challenge”.
Clos enjoyed the opportunity to run in dry conditions, albeit it a brief one, and the youngster was pleased with the way his morning panned out.
“It was an interesting session where I was able to run in dry conditions for a large amount of time, although the track was changing. Some rain drops started to fall which, at times, made it a bit more complicated. But I'm happy with how it went. We did a good job and the car responded well, which is the objective”.
