It was Sean Gelael’s third Free Practice session with the Scuderia Toro Rosso team on Friday, and for the third time the Indonesian was faced with wet weather, this time at the Circuit of the Americas.
Gelael ended up seventeenth fastest on Friday morning, just over a second behind team-mate Brendon Hartley before handed the car back to Daniil Kvyat for the rest of the weekend.
Previous outings in Singapore and Malaysia were also held in wet conditions, but Gelael was now downbeat about it, feeling that he is now prepared for those kind of conditions in the future, although he is hoping his next outing in Mexico City is a dry one.
“Another FP1 in tricky conditions… It seems like I’m bringing the rain to each track I’m driving at: it’s rained at every single Free Practice session I’ve had up until now!” said Gelael. “It’s a bit of a shame, but looking at the positive side, I’m well prepared in the wet!
“We were quite competitive at the start of the session. Then, when the track got quicker, my intermediate tyres were a bit warn out… After that, on the slicks, I got caught in a bit of traffic during my fast lap, so I lost a bit of time there, but overall it’s been okay and we were able to do many laps, which is always good.
“Hopefully next week in Mexico it stays dry!”
