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FRIDAY TYRE SUMMARY
* Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton went fastest in free practice, setting the
quickest time of the day in FP2, while Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was fastest
in FP1. On both occasions, the P Zero Red soft tyre was used to set the
fastest time. But unlike last weekend, this time the red soft tyre was the
C5: one step softer than the soft nomination one week ago. The C3 and C4,
used as the medium and soft last weekend, are now back in action at the
Austrian Grand Prix as the hard and medium respectively.
* Compared to last weekend, conditions were cooler: with a few light drops
of rain in the afternoon. At the beginning of the FP2 session, which should
be representative of qualifying and race conditions, ambient temperatures
registered 22 degrees and track temperatures were 31 degrees, more than 10
degrees less than last week.
* Even though the circuit was used last weekend, some recent rain made
conditions similar to free practice one week ago and there was quite a good
track evolution during the day. Nonetheless the drivers and the teams were
extremely familiar with it, helping to make both sessions a little faster
than last week.
* Each driver also had two sets of a new prototype tyre, with no markings,
to test during Friday free practice. This prototype tyre, in C4 compound,
features a new rear construction that is being assessed for introduction
from the British Grand Prix onwards, incorporating elements of the 2022
18-inch tyres. Verstappen set the fastest time on the prototype tyre
(1m05.558s) during FP2
* There’s an estimated gap of about 0.7s between soft and medium, while the
gap between medium and hard is about 0.5s (based on last weekend’s race).
MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF CAR RACING
“There were two main priorities for the teams today: assessing the soft
compound in C5 version, which has never been to Austria before, and trying
out the new prototype tyre, in medium C4 compound, in the most
representative conditions for the teams. We are gathering all the
information we need on this new rear tyre, which features a more robust
construction, and we’ll analyse the data with a view to using it from
Silverstone onwards. The feedback we’ve had from the drivers so far is
generally positive and indicates that it feels quite similar to the existing
tyre that was exactly our target: keep the same level of performance with an
increase of the robustness. As expected with the softer compounds, we had
some graining on the soft tyre in particular, which suggests that we might
see some quite different strategies compared to last weekend: the whole idea
behind changing the nomination for the second race weekend here.” |
TOP 3 TIMES
FP1
Verstappen 1m05.143s SOFT C5 NEW
Leclerc 1m05.409s SOFT C5 NEW
Sainz 1m05.431s SOFT C5 NEW
FP2
Hamilton 1m04.523s SOFT C5 NEW
Bottas 1m04.712s SOFT C5 NEW
Verstappen 1m04.740s SOFT C5 NEW
BEST TIME BY COMPOUND
FP1
HARD C3 Ricciardo 1m06.790s
MEDIUM C4 Norris 1m05.895s
SOFT C5 Verstappen 1m05.143s
PROTO C4 Verstappen 1m05.558s
FP2
HARD C3 Norris 1m06.269s
MEDIUM C4 Verstappen 1m05.239s
SOFT C5 Hamilton 1m04.523s
PROTO C4 Verstappen 1m05.709s
MOST LAPS BY COMPOUND SO FAR
COMPOUND DRIVER LAPS
HARD C3 Ricciardo 13
MEDIUM C4 Pérez 28
SOFT C5 Ocon 25
PROTO C4 Leclerc 20
TYRE STATISTICS OF THE DAY
HARD MEDIUM SOFT PROTO
Kms driven* 168 1786 2154 1501
Sets used overall** 4 30 46 34
* 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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