FRIDAY TYRE SUMMARY
* After Friday free practice at the amended Abu Dhabi circuit for the title decider, Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton has gone quickest on the P Zero Red soft C5 tyres, with a best FP2 time of 1m23.691s. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon was second-fastest in FP2, also on the soft tyres, while Hamilton’s title rival Max Verstappen was fourth after going fastest in FP1 on the same compound.
* The Yas Marina circuit has been redesigned since last year, with five fewer corners and a more flowing layout to aid overtaking. As a result, the fastest FP2 time was around 13 seconds faster than the equivalent time last year.
* The new circuit layout puts more energy through the tyres, shifting the emphasis towards lateral loads rather than traction and braking.
* The second free practice session, held in the evening, was the only representative session before qualifying, with track temperatures of 29 degrees centigrade and ambient temperatures of 27 degrees at the start. This was about 10 degrees cooler than the track temperatures in FP1.
* The soft tyre, which is not considered key to the race by the teams, was most often used in FP1 as the drivers learned the new circuit and asphalt. During FP2 they focussed on a comparison between the soft and medium compounds, mainly doing short stints.
* The performance gaps so far between the compounds on this new layout are an estimated 0.4 seconds between the P Zero White hard and P Zero Yellow medium, while the gap between the medium and soft is a bit bigger than expected at around 0.6 seconds.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF CAR RACING
“The FP1 session was all about familiarisation with the new circuit layout and the fresh asphalt on the new sections using the soft tyres, while the more representative conditions of FP2 allowed the teams to concentrate more on realistic race and qualifying simulations using both soft and medium compounds for a direct comparison. There was some abrasion on the softest compound in the morning with higher temperatures, which as usual improved with more running and a high degree of track evolution – thanks also to the support races. The track is obviously faster than last year, putting more energy through the tyres. Of some concern here are the kerbs, especially at exit of turns 5 and 9, as they are quite high and pointed. We are talking with the FIA about this, in order to avoid anything unexpected over the weekend.”

TOP 3 TIMES
FP1
Verstappen	1m25.009s	SOFT C5 NEW
Bottas		1m25.205s	SOFT C5 USED
Hamilton	1m25.355s	SOFT C5 NEW
FP2
Hamilton	1m23.691s	SOFT C5 USED
Ocon		1m24.034s	SOFT C5 NEW
Bottas		1m24.083s	SOFT C5 USED

BEST TIME BY COMPOUND
FP1
HARD C3		Giovinazzi	1m27.821s
MEDIUM C4	Ricciardo	1m26.676s
SOFT C5		Verstappen	1m25.009s
FP2
HARD C3		Raikkonen	1m25.958s
MEDIUM C4	Hamilton	1m24.126s
SOFT C5		Hamilton	1m23.691s

MOST LAPS BY COMPOUND SO FAR
COMPOUND	DRIVER				LAPS
HARD C3		Giovinazzi			17
MEDIUM C4	Bottas, Giovinazzi, Gasly	21
SOFT C5		Gasly, Ocon			22

TYRE STATISTICS OF THE DAY
 			HARD	MEDIUM	SOFT
Kms driven*		184	1880	3422
Sets used overall**	4	22	56

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