Track temperatures peaked at 56 degrees centigrade during free practice today: some of the hottest conditions the P Zero Formula 1 tyres have ever run in, which were more than 20 degrees hotter than last year in Bahrain. This, combined with the circuit layout, naturally caused an increased degree of thermal degradation. In the more representative evening conditions of FP2, with track temperatures of 37 degrees, the supersoft was around 1.5 seconds faster than the soft: a difference that is higher than expected.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF CAR RACING
“We certainly saw some extreme conditions today as well as a track that was much more ‘green’ than usual. With a performance difference of a second and a half between the two compounds and greater degradation on the supersoft than that seen over the last two races, data analysis throughout the weekend will be particularly important to define the best race strategy. We’ve seen the top three within the same tenth of a second, so it looks set to be a very close contest.”

FREE PRACTICE 1 – TOP 3 TIMES
DRIVER 		TIME 	  COMPOUND 
Vettel 		1m32.697s SOFT NEW
Ricciardo	1m33.097s SOFT NEW 
Verstappen 	1m33.566s SOFT NEW

FREE PRACTICE 2 – TOP 3 TIMES
DRIVER 		TIME 	  COMPOUND 
Vettel 		1m31.310s SUPERSOFT NEW
Bottas		1m31.351s SUPERSOFT NEW 
Ricciardo 	1m31.376s SUPERSOFT NEW

FP1 - BEST TIME BY COMPOUND
COMPOUND 	DRIVER 	  TIME 
MEDIUM 		Hamilton  1m 36.708s
SOFT		Vettel	  1m 32.697s 

FP2 - BEST TIME BY COMPOUND
COMPOUND 	DRIVER    TIME
SOFT		Raikkonen 1m 32.277s
SUPERSOFT 	Vettel    1m 31.310s

MOST LAPS BY COMPOUND SO FAR
COMPOUND 	DRIVER 			LAPS
MEDIUM 		Ocon, Ricciardo, Stroll 12
SOFT		Stroll			26 
SUPERSOFT 	Ericsson 		26

TYRE STATISTICS OF THE DAY
			MEDIUM	  SOFT   SUPERSOFT
Kms driven* 		1007 	  2740   1679
Sets used overall**	22	  39	 18

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