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Red Bull’s
Sebastian Vettel went quickest in both free practice sessions today for the
Indian Grand Prix, held in ambient temperatures of 30 degrees centigrade.
Vettel set fastest time in the morning on the P Zero White medium tyre,
before switching to the P Zero Yellow soft in the afternoon. These two tyres
are a step softer than those nominated for India last year, when most
drivers completed the race with just one pit stop. During the afternoon
session, Vettel set a benchmark time of 1m25.722s: nearly a second faster
than the time he had set in the morning. In both sessions today, his team
mate Mark Webber was second-fastest.
There was a
considerable degree of track evolution over the course of the day, with
Vettel comfortably eclipsing his FP2 time from last year of 1m26.221s, also
set on the soft tyre.
The warm weather is set to continue for the rest of the weekend, with two or
three pit stops expected for most drivers on the challenging Indian circuit.
If Vettel finishes the Indian Grand Prix fifth or higher, then he will claim
his fourth drivers’ world title on Sunday: only the fourth man in history to
do so after Juan Manuel Fangio, Alain Prost and Michael Schumacher.
Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery said: “Essentially we went
for softer compounds this time as in 2012 the Indian Grand Prix was just a
one-stop race, and the combination we brought this year allows for a two to
three stop strategy. After what we have seen today, wear and degradation is
generally in line with our expectations but there have been some issues with
blistering on the soft compound while some drivers ran up to 24 laps on the
medium tyre. The medium seems set to be the optimal race tyre, while the
soft tyre should be the one to qualify on, as it has been about 0.8s to a
second per lap faster up to now. Assessing the drop-off in performance will
be the key to formulating the strategy and the timing of the first pit stop.
Consequently, some teams will also be evaluating the potential benefits of
starting on the medium. However, the track hasn’t finished evolving yet, so
the final decisions won’t be taken until after free practice tomorrow.”
Pirelli facts of the day:
India has the longest pit lane of any circuit in Formula One, with 414
metres subject to the speed limiter. However, the design of it means that
the time loss is only around 18 seconds – so this should not have a
disproportionate effect on the strategy. Last year race winner Vettel
stopped just once, on lap 33, and there were 28 pit stops in total. |
Fastest tyre of the day
FP1: FP2:
1. Vettel 1m26.683s Medium Used 1. Vettel 1m25.722s Soft New
2. Webber 1m26.871s Medium Used 2. Webber 1m26.011s Soft New
3. Rosberg 1m26.899s Medium Used 3. Grosjean 1m26.220s Soft N
Tyre statistics of the day:
Soft Medium Intermediate Wet
kms driven * 1,279 4,910 N/A N/A
sets used overall ** 22 46 N/A N/A
highest number of laps ** 20 34 N/A N/A
May the Force be with you:
- Max. g-force braking: -4.45 @ Turn 4
- Max. g-force cornering: 4.55 @ Turn 9 and Turn 14
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