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FRIDAY TYRE SUMMARY
* The Formula 1 drivers and teams got their first taste of Losail today, the
latest arrival on the calendar. There was one free practice session in the
early afternoon, held in the heat of the day, followed by a second session
after dark, which was more representative of qualifying and race conditions.
* Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas set the best time of the day in FP2
(1m23.148s) while Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was fastest in the morning: on
each occasion using the P Zero Red soft C3 tyre. All three available
compounds were used in each session, with the teams focussing on data
collection over this challenging new track.
* The crucial FP2 session got underway with 28 degrees centigrade ambient
and 30 degrees on track, with moderate wind gusts up to 25kph. The track
temperature in FP1 was around 15 degrees higher than in FP2.
* The track was slippery and ‘green’ throughout the day, especially with
sand blowing onto the track from the surrounding desert. A few drivers also
went off, dragging more dirt onto the surface. There was a high degree of
track evolution seen throughout each session.
* So far, the gap between the P Zero White hard C1 and Yellow medium C2 tyre
is around 0.7 seconds, with a similar gap between medium and soft. The lap
times were quite fast: already close to those estimated for qualifying.
MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF CAR RACING
“It was a busy couple of sessions today as the teams concentrated on
learning as much as they could about Losail in the time available. There was
a high degree of track evolution already during FP1, and this is a pattern
we would expect to continue tomorrow. In these challenging conditions with a
dirty track and high-energy corners, the initial data shows high wear on the
left-front, especially for the soft compound: probably also due to the
set-up used by the cars on this circuit. It will be interesting to see how
that evolves as the weekend goes on. In the warmer conditions of FP1, the
hard tyre worked particularly well as we expected, but in cooler and more
representative conditions during FP2, the soft and the medium came into
their own. As usual with a new track, there will be plenty of data analysis
tonight as the teams begin to work out the weekend’s qualifying and race
strategy based on what they have learned today.” |
TOP 3 TIMES
FP1
Verstappen 1m23.723s SOFT C3 NEW
Gasly 1m24.160s SOFT C3 NEW
Bottas 1m24.194s SOFT C3 NEW
FP2
Bottas 1m23.148s SOFT C3 USED
Gasly 1m23.357s SOFT C3 NEW
Verstappen 1m23.498s SOFT C3 USED
BEST TIME BY COMPOUND
FP1
HARD C1 Verstappen 1m24.855s
MEDIUM C2 Ocon 1m24.972s
SOFT C3 Verstappen 1m23.723s
FP2
HARD C1 Leclerc 1m24.914s
MEDIUM C2 Bottas 1m23.324s
SOFT C3 Bottas 1m23.148s
MOST LAPS BY COMPOUND SO FAR
COMPOUND DRIVER LAPS
HARD C1 Tsunoda 21
MEDIUM C2 Alonso, Russell 20
SOFT C3 Tsunoda 20
TYRE STATISTICS OF THE DAY
HARD MEDIUM SOFT
Kms driven* 1420 1393 2195
Sets used overall** 19 20 39
* 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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