Fernando Alonso, R2904
 Free practice 1: 24 laps, 1:29.422 on lap 21, P8
 Run 1: 7 laps, new hard tyres
 Run 2: 7 laps, same set of hard tyres, change to anti-roll bar and front wing
 Run 3: 8 laps, same set of hard tyres, change to front wing

Free Practice 2: 35 laps, 1:28.847 on lap 33, P2
 Run 1: 5 laps, set of new hard tyres, change to gear box ratios
 Run 2: 7 laps, same set of hard tyres, change to front wing
 Run 3: 7 laps, same set of hard tyres, change to front wing
 Run 4: 9 laps, new soft tyres
 Run 5: 7 laps, new soft tyres, change to weight distribution

Fernando: “Driving at Istanbul Park on the first day is never easy as the track conditions are really poor and we always see the track evolve during the weekend. So we just tried to get some laps on the car and evaluate some parts, rather than focussing too much on set-up work as we didn’t want to get confused by the constantly changing track. So there is more to come and tomorrow morning we will start our proper set-up work. Even though our position looks good today, we know that tomorrow will be more difficult.”

Nelson Piquet, R2901
 Free practice 1: 18 laps, 1:30.132 on lap 8, P14
 Run 1: 9 laps, new hard tyres
 Run 2: 6 laps, same set of hard tyres, change to rear springs
 Run 3: 3 laps, same set of hard tyres

Free Practice 2: 38 laps, 1:29.401 on lap 16, P10
 Run 1: 9 laps, new hard tyres
 Run 2: 9 laps, same set of hard tyres, change to bodywork
 Run 3: 10 laps, same set of hard tyres, change to rear suspension
 Run 4: 10 laps, new soft tyres, change to rear suspension

Nelson: “The track conditions weren’t easy today as the track was very green and that made it difficult to learn much about the car. It improved a bit in the afternoon and that’s when we did most of our running which allowed us to start evaluating the tyres. It’s important to make the most of the final practice session tomorrow morning so that I can find a set-up that I am happy with and approach qualifying in reasonable shape.”

Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering
 “It was quite a challenging day. The circuit was very slippery - as we saw from the number of cars that went off the track. Also, the tyre behaviour was not as we expected and so despite Fernando’s high position on the timesheets, we still have a lot of work to do before tomorrow.”

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