Lecuona and Vierge fifth and ninth on day 1 at Estoril

“Tricky conditions today. There was a lot of rain in the morning and, although it dried up in the afternoon, it was still tricky because the track wasn’t perfect. The rain then returned in the final ten minutes, and we couldn’t complete the session. In FP1, I struggled a lot with grip; I basically had no confidence in the rear tyre, which made it difficult to enter the corners and open the throttle. The front was really good and since Magny-Cours, we've done a great job improving front-end feeling, but we still need to work on the rear, also in the wet. I think we’ll have other chances to ride in the rain in the coming days anyway. Things improved in FP2, but I don't think our top 5 position is entirely realistic. We missed the final ten minutes, which is when everyone really pushes. We also used two sets of tyres, and I’m not sure if others did the same. We changed tyres because the first set had been pre-heated (previously warmed up by another team but not used), and the feeling wasn't good at all, so we put in another set. Things went better after that, but once again, the front was very good while the rear wasn’t. I had a lot of issues with braking and the rear was locking up a lot, making it hard to turn and causing a lot of wheel spin. Anyway, whatever the case, we’re in the top five again. Now we’ll sit down with the team to see how we can address this issue, and let’s see what the weather brings tomorrow.”

“A challenging first day here in Estoril due to tricky weather conditions that persisted all day. The fully wet FP1 allowed us to ride with a full rain setup. The initial feeling with the bike wasn't ideal, but by the end of the session, we managed to improve rear grip. In FP2, although the track was dry, it wasn’t entirely perfect, but the feeling was much better from the start. Unfortunately, during my second exit on the same used tyres, I crashed while on a flying lap and couldn’t rejoin the session, especially since the rain then returned in the final minutes. Overall, the feeling wasn’t bad, and the team did a great job. Now, we just need to wait and see what the weather brings tomorrow. It looks like we’ll have mixed conditions again, so we need to be prepared for whatever comes our way.”