01/04/2016
NEWS STORY
There's a more positive vibe emanating from the Manor Racing garage this evening after a strong start to its Bahrain Grand Prix weekend. Rookies Pascal Wehrlein and Rio Haryanto were quickly up to speed, mastering the 5.412km Sakhir circuit and taking chunks out of the delta to the pack. They ended the day with the two Saubers sandwiched between them.
Pascal Wehrlein: "We've learned a lot since Melbourne and that was evident in our performance here today. It's another new circuit for me but I was soon feeling comfortable with the track and able to crack on with the programme. In these early races it's all about exploring the car's behaviour and potential, so we spent a lot of time on the Medium tyre establishing a better starting point for the weekend. The pace on the Soft tyre was encouraging so more of that tomorrow I hope. So far I'm happy!"
Rio Haryanto: "We end the day with a much better balance so I'm pleased with the way we've approached the weekend so far. It's a good reflection of the work we put in after Melbourne and shows how quickly we can bring more performance to the car with just a few changes here and there. I really enjoy this circuit and running under the lights is very exciting. A good first step with more to come tomorrow I think."
Dave Ryan, Racing Director: "We took a long hard look at every aspect of our weekend in Melbourne and it's really pleasing to see the benefit of that period of reflection already translating into positive results here. Our programme was heavily biased towards establishing a good baseline set-up and our tyre choices today echoed that. We weren't on top of the set-up in the last race so we've taken a slightly different approach here and we're in a much better place as a consequence. This means we can focus more on qualifying now and what we need to do to improve our chances with a second stab at the new format."
Check out our Friday gallery, here.