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Ferrari driver
Sebastian Vettel set best time at the end of free practice with the PZero
Red supersoft tyre.
Despite skies that threatened rain, both free practice sessions today
remained dry, with FP2 – run at the same time as the qualifying and the race
– getting underway with 22 degrees of asphalt temperature and lately
reaching 25°.
The rapid warm-up of the supersoft tyre meant that drivers were able to
extract the maximum performance from the compound straight away, even though conditions
remained ‘green’ and slippery during the first free practice session in
particular, during which only the soft tyre was used.
Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen was the first to try the supersoft tyre this
afternoon, 30 minutes into the hour and a half session. As more drivers switched to the
softer compound for race and qualifying simulations, a performance gap of
0.7 second between the two tyres was recorded.
Tyre wear and degradation was low during both sessions, and is set to
decrease for the rest of the weekend as more rubber is laid down and the
cars slide less.
However, there is a risk of rain throughout the rest of the weekend –
particularly for tomorrow’s qualifying session – that could have a profound effect on race
strategy, with the only up to data from the circuit existing from last year,
when Austria returned to the championship.
As a result, teams sought to maximise the dry running today and run through
as many different scenarios as possible, in order to be as best prepared as
they can be for any possibility.
Paul Hembery, Pirelli Motorsport Director: “It’s a short lap here at
the Red Bull Ring, taking less than 70 seconds to complete. We’ve seen the
load on the tyres to be quite low, and a performance gap of 0.7 second
between the two compounds. The biggest factor though will be the weather:
there’s a risk of rain tomorrow and a slightly smaller possibility of rain
on race day. This would clearly have a major effect on tactics, so all the
signs are for an unpredictable weekend.”
Pirelli fact of the day:
In the circuit's history as first the Osterreichring and then the A1-Ring,
Alain Prost is the most frequent winner of the Austrian Grand Prix. The
four-time world champion triumphed on three occasions, winning first for
Renault in 1983 and then with McLaren in 1985 and 1986. |
FP1: FP2:
1. Rosberg 1m10.401s Soft 1. Vettel 1m09.600s Supersoft
2. Hamilton 1m10.709s Soft 2. Rosberg 1m09.611s Supersoft
3. Raikkonen 1m11.028s Soft 3. Raikkonen 1m09.860s Supersoft
Tyre statistics of the day:
Supersoft Soft Intermediate Wet
kms driven * 1656 4105 0 0
sets used overall ** 19 59 0 0
highest number of laps ** 33 35 0 0
* The above number gives the total amount of kilometres
driven in FP1 and FP2 today, all drivers combined.
** Per compound, all drivers combined.
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