Williams Martini Racing had a disappointing opening day of practice for the Singapore Grand Prix after both drivers failed to finish in the top ten in the second session.
Felipe Massa performed well in the morning session as he finished in ninth with a fastest lap time of 1:48.044, but during Free Practice 2 though, he was unable to continue this performance and had to settle for fourteenth.
The Brazilian believes Williams have a lot to do to improve the FW38 for the short runs, especially with trying to understand the tyres at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.
“It’s always tricky to understand Friday in Singapore,” said Massa. “You always need to work hard to understand the tyres here.
“We have a lot to do to improve the car for the short runs, especially with the new tyres. The long run had a better feeling, I think we were quite competitive but we don’t know the fuel of any other cars.”
Valtteri Bottas also had a difficult opening day of practice as he finished Free Practice 1 in fourteenth with a time that placed him 0.409 seconds behind his team-mate. In the afternoon session he was unable to make any more progress as he finished in fifteenth, but this time only 0.104 seconds behind Massa.
The Finn struggled with the car balance all day, finishing the day unhappy with his performance.
“It was a tricky day today,” said Bottas. “We really struggled with the car balance all day and we didn’t finish today happy with it.
“We’ve been doing different kinds of tests and set-up changes to try and get the car to work well, but it’s been difficult.”
