F1 | Racing Point, good Friday for Stroll: “I found the rhythm straight away”

Friday with two faces at Racing Point. At COTA in Austin, Stroll took ninth position after the first two free practice sessions, immediately feeling comfortable with the car. Problems for Perez, however, only fifteenth and still with a lack of feeling both with the terribly bumpy track and with the car. The goal is to improve in FP3 so as to be able to compete for a place in Q3.

“It was a positive day, I immediately found the rhythm – Stroll said. The balance of the car was good for both the qualifying lap and the long runs: it's a track where you can get quite creative, because it's very wide, so there are more lines available, particularly in the central sector. Turn 15 allows you to steer early or stay very wide, it depends on the car and the driver's preferences. Generally this track is very bumpy, there are two or three very large bumps that put the car in difficulty, but it's the same for everyone: it's not even good for the engine, given that it revs, it's as if there were some road bumps. I don't think there is a short term solution, but I hope things improve next year. It was also nice to try new tire specifications, but it's too early to draw conclusions, we need to collect more data."

“The track conditions today were extremely bad, there were many riders complaining about the bumps – Perez admitted. I struggled with the balance of the car, so I have to try to improve it tomorrow. Lance went much better than me in all conditions, so hopefully I can catch him tomorrow and be in contention for Q3. It will be very important to improve my race pace, because that's where the points are awarded."