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Following some
rain on Thursday, conditions for free practice at the Bahrain International
Circuit were relatively cool and windy, with track temperatures dropping as
FP2 took place in the evening: at the same time as qualifying and the race.
The teams concentrated the majority of their set-up and tyre work into the
second session, during which the race lap record established in 2005 was
broken.
Paul Hembery, Pirelli motorsport director: An indication of how much
the lap times have generally improved from last year comes from the fact
that the slowest time in FP1 this afternoon would have been the fastest FP1
time last year. Not only that but the race lap record was already broken in
FP2. Conditions during FP2 are expected to be representative of qualifying
and the race, so the teams have gathered plenty of data for what is looking
like a race that will feature two, possibly three, pit stops for most
competitors. During FP2 we encountered a very small amount of graining, in
the cool conditions with a high fuel load. The low working range supersoft
appears to have a pace advantage of about one second over the soft, helped
by the cool temperatures.
Minimum prescribed tyre pressures: 21.5psi (fronts) 19psi (rears)
Pirelli fact of the day: For Stoffel Vandoorne, who will start his first
grand prix on Sunday, Bahrain is a place of auspicious debuts. The Belgian
took his very first GP2 start in Bahrain in 2014 and he went on to win the
race. He qualified second on his Sakhir debut, before commencing a run of
four consecutive GP2 poles.
Spotted in the paddock today: An extraordinary survivor: Nando
Parrado. For those not familiar with him, the Uruguayan was one of just 16
people who walked out of the infamous 1972 Andes plane crash, playing an
instrumental role in ensuring the rescue of his fellow Old Christians rugby
team members by trekking through the mountains over a 10-day period to find
help. After the crash he went on to become a professional racing driver, and
is now a motivational speaker and television personality. |
FP1 - TIMES FP2 - TIMES
1. Rosberg 1m32.294s soft 1. Rosberg 1m31.001s supersoft
2. Hamilton 1m32.799s soft 2. Hamilton 1m31.242s supersoft
3. Raikkonen 1m34.128s soft 3. Button 1m32.281s supersoft
FP1 - BEST TIME PER COMPOUND
MEDIUM Vettel 1m35.073s
SOFT Hamilton 1m32.294s
SUPERSOFT Not run in FP1
FP2 BEST TIME PER COMPOUND
MEDIUM Bottas 1m34.761s
SOFT Rosberg 1m32.173s
SUPERSOFT Rosberg 1m31.001s
LONGEST STINTS OF THE DAY
MEDIUM Raikkonen 19
SOFT Magnussen 19
SUPERSOFT Ricciardo 13
Tyre statistics of the day:
Medium Soft Supersoft
kms driven * 2101 3190 1343
sets used overall ** 27 45 18
highest number of laps ** 24 26 19
* 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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