Brazilian GP: Pirelli Friday Practice Review

Friday free practice was as expected at Interlagos, despite relatively inconsistent track conditions and asphalt temperatures that peaked at a moderate 44 degrees centigrade in the afternoon.

Nonetheless, the all-time lap record (1m09.822s set in 2004) was already broken during the first part of FP1 using the soft tyre, before being lowered further with the supersoft. The soft was the same compound that also set fastest time in FP1 one year ago, providing a direct comparison.

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton led both sessions today, during which the soft and the supersoft compounds were mainly used, which are separated by around 0.6 seconds.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF CAR RACING
“There were no real surprises today, just a little bit of front-left blistering. Again, we saw the all-time lap record lowered, with the soft tyre as well as the supersoft. Most of the drivers were able to beat last year’s pole time, which shows just how much progress has been made with the latest generation of cars and wider tyres. As usual for Brazil, the weather outlook remains uncertain for tomorrow, with a few drops of rain in FP2, but not enough to run on anything other than slicks.”

FREE PRACTICE 1 – TOP 3 TIMES
DRIVER 		TIME 	  COMPOUND
Hamilton 	1m09.202s SUPERSOFT NEW
Bottas		1m09.329s SUPERSOFT NEW
Raikkonen 	1m09.744s SUPERSOFT NEW

FREE PRACTICE 2 – TOP 3 TIMES
DRIVER 		TIME 	  COMPOUND
Hamilton 	1m09.515s SUPERSOFT NEW
Bottas		1m09.563s SUPERSOFT NEW
Ricciardo 	1m09.743s SUPERSOFT NEW

FP1 - BEST TIME BY COMPOUND
COMPOUND 	DRIVER    TIME
MEDIUM 		- 	  -
SOFT		Hamilton  1m09.445s
SUPERSOFT 	Hamilton  1m09.202s

FP2 - BEST TIME BY COMPOUND
COMPOUND 	DRIVER    TIME
MEDIUM 		- 	  -
SOFT		Hamilton  1m09.742s
SUPERSOFT 	Hamilton  1m09.515s

MOST LAPS BY COMPOUND SO FAR
COMPOUND 	DRIVER 	  	LAPS
MEDIUM 		Ocon, Russell 	4
SOFT		Massa		32
SUPERSOFT 	Stroll, Vettel  32

TYRE STATISTICS OF THE DAY
			MEDIUM	SOFT	SUPER SOFT
Kms driven* 		111 	2257 	3679
Sets used overall**	13	29	48

* The above number gives the total amount of kilometres
driven in FP1 and FP2 today, all drivers combined.
** Per compound, all drivers combined.