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Bridgestone's
super soft tyre proved to be the fastest rubber on the streets of Valencia,
with ING Renault F1 Team driver Fernando Alonso setting a 1min 39.404secs in
a searing hot afternoon session.
Alonso was over seven tenths faster than second fastest driver, Jenson
Button, whose Brawn GP Formula 1 team-mate Rubens Barrichello was third
quickest.
The morning practice session saw Barrichello go fastest, using the soft tyre
to set a time of 1min 42.460secs. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes drivers Heikki
Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton were the next quickest.
Ambient and track temperatures were hot all day, with blue skies and
sunshine at the Spanish port location. The track reached a maximum of 46
degrees Celsius today, one of the highest temperatures this season.
Q&A with Hirohide Hamashima - Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre
Development
What was significant about today's running?
"Today was all about track improvement. The surface started very dirty, as
we would expect so we heard the usual comments about lack of grip. We saw
quite a bit of rear lateral graining which comes from the traction and
braking demands on this circuit. We also saw some front lateral graining on
some cars too. This is unusual, but comes from the heavy braking on the
initially dirty surface."
How do you expect this allocation to work over the weekend?
"We would expect the super soft to be the superior tyre for lap time, but
the soft to be the superior tyre for consistency and therefore the favoured
race tyre. The amount of circuit improvement over the weekend will be the
key to the race. As the circuit improves, so car balance will change. The
team that predicts the track improvement correctly for the race will be best
placed to refine their car setup to suit. Even though it was very hot here,
the track layout does not put as much force through the tyres as at other
circuits so we do not predict problems with tyres overheating." |
