Nico Rosberg thinks the gap to Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton is “not representative” after he topped both Friday free practice sessions for the British Grand Prix.
The German recovered from an early hydraulic issue to pip Hamilton in the closing stages of FP1, with the gap growing to nearly half a second in the afternoon.
What’s more, Rosberg’s strong long-run pace clearly shows that he has got off to a better start than his title rival at Silverstone. But last year’s championship runner-up refuses to get carried away by his Friday sweep as he expects conditions to change over the weekend.
“I don’t know what (Hamilton) did on his lap,” said Rosberg. “It’s not representative. I think it’s close and I just need to do my homework.
“The car was a bit all over the place still. I think it was the track out there, it was just really difficult. Especially it was hotter now than it will be on Sunday for the race so we need to be careful with that.
“Definitely the balance that was good today is not going to be ideal for Sunday, by far. We need to think ahead, but still I think today was valuable.”
Having cut the gap to Hamilton to 10 points with his dominant Austrian Grand Prix win, Rosberg is keen to carry the momentum forward but reckons Silverstone’s unique layout makes him err on the side of caution.
“It’s an extremely different track. For one, we’ve gone for the hard tyres, which we haven’t used in a while now. Then it’s the fastest track of the year in terms of corner speeds. That means it’s total different requirements for the car.
“Already we’ve come here with quite a different setup on the car, just from historical knowledge. Then to perfect it, it’s really challenging. There are so many different types of corners here like slow speed long corners, slow speed shorts, very high speed, there’s everything. And to get the best compromise around here is very difficult.”
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