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For the second
grand prix running, the second free practice session on Friday was
interrupted by heavy rain – just as was the case in Monaco two weeks ago. As
a result, the
teams had limited running on the new for 2015 P Zero Red supersoft tyre –
nominated together
with the Yellow soft compound this weekend – which made its debut at the
Monaco Grand Prix.
Before the rain came, well into the hour and a half FP2 session, a few
drivers were able to
sample this new tyre – with some teams exploring the possibility of just a
one-stop strategy
on Sunday.
However, in order to have some more precise data, the third free practice
session on
Saturday morning will once again become crucial, as teams finalise their
strategies on a track where tyre wear and degradation is traditionally quite
low. Weather forecasts suggest that dry conditions are far from guaranteed,
meaning that teams will have to think on their feet when it comes to
tactics.
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton went fastest in FP2 before the rain arrived,
setting a
benchmark of 1m15.988s on the supersoft tyre: faster than the equivalent top
time he set in last year’s FP2 at Montreal. Hamilton was also fastest in FP1
on the soft tyre this morning: around a second quicker than the fastest FP1
time last year.
Paul Hembery: “The weather that we saw today was reminiscent of the
2011 Canadian Grand Prix, where torrential rain made for a very entertaining
race, won by Jenson Button from the back. It’s obviously still early in the
weekend but the teams have to be prepared for any potential conditions. The
third free practice session tomorrow will become particularly important, as
this now represents the only potential opportunity to gather solid long-run
data on the new 2015 supersoft tyre, which should be well suited to the tyre
demands of the Montreal circuit. Depending on the race conditions, a number
of strategies seem possible. However, we will only get a clearer picture
after FP3 tomorrow. It’s a shame that the fans didn’t see much running
today, but Canada always produces a thrilling race weekend – we’re
sure that even the heavy rain here today won’t dampen anybody’s enthusiasm.”
Pirelli fact of the day:
Montreal has the lowest pit stop time loss of the year, with the cars losing
just 17 seconds from the beginning to the end of the pit lane. This might
encourage some drivers to opt for a ‘sprint’ strategy with a high number of
pit stops, particularly if the car is fast anyway.
The high
probability of a safety car means that a flexible strategy can often win the
race, making the task of formulating the strategy even more complex for the
engineers. |
FP1: FP2:
1. Hamilton 1m16.212s Soft 1. Hamilton 1m15.988s Supersoft
2. Rosberg 1m16.627s Soft 2. Vettel 1m16.304s Supersoft
3. Grosjean 1m17.721s Soft 3. Raikkonen 1m16.310s Supersoft
Tyre statistics of the day:
Supersoft Soft Intermediate Wet
kms driven * 1020 3222 8 0
sets used overall ** 20 58 2 0
highest number of laps ** 20 31 1 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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