All three compounds selected for the Canadian Grand Prix were used during free practice today, which started in the morning with just 14 degrees centigrade ambient. In those cool conditions drivers had to pay particular attention to tyre warm-up, to ensure that the tyres were operating within their correct working range and extract the maximum of their potential.

As a result of the cool temperatures in the morning there was some graining but this is a normal phenomenon in Canada, which is expected to diminish as more rubber is laid on the track. By the end of FP2, temperatures have raised significantly with about 0.6 seconds separating the ultrasoft from the supersoft tyre, although this gap should come down slightly as the weekend progresses.

Lewis Hamilton already beat his 2015 pole time during FP2, en route to a best time of 1m14.212s on the ultrasoft tyre. With the weather in Canada always unpredictable – cooler conditions are expected for Sunday – it was important for all the teams to gather as much information as they could about each compound on different fuel loads.

Toro Rosso was the only team to try all three compounds. The other teams focused on a combination of soft and ultrasoft (because the soft only is nominated as mandatory for the race) or on a combination of supersoft and ultrasoft (presumably to compare the difference between the two softer compounds).

Paul Hembery, Pirelli motorsport director: “The teams were able to get a good read on all three of our slick compounds today, despite the low track temperatures that made driving conditions quite difficult and exacerbated the lack of grip. Canada always produces an entertaining race and from what we’ve seen so far wear and degradation seems to be quite low, even with the ultrasoft.”

Minimum prescribed tyre pressures: 21 psi (fronts) 19 psi (rears)

Pirelli fact of the day: Unpredictability is the name of the game in Canada: three out of the last five Canadian Grands Prix have featured a late change of lead (starting with the longest race in F1 history, in 2011, when Jenson Button claimed a memorable win by moving into the lead on the final lap – having previously been last.

Spotted in the paddock: Carles Puyol. The former Barcelona and Spain football star (a Spanish international on more than 100 occasions) was a welcome visitor to the Pirelli hospitality. Known as ‘The Wall’ until his retirement in 2014, he now has more time to discover Formula 1, as a brand ambassador for new sponsor Heineken.

FP1 - TIMES 		       FP2 - TIMES
1 Hamilton 1m14.755s Supersoft 1 Hamilton 1m14.212s Ultrasoft
2 Rosberg 1m15.086s Ultrasoft  2 Vettel 1m14.469s Ultrasoft
3 Vettel 1m15.243s Supersoft   3 Rosberg 1m14.738s Ultrasoft

FP1 - BEST TIME PER COMPOUND
Soft 	  Verstappen 1m15.552s
Supersoft Hamilton 1m14.755s
Ultrasoft Rosberg 1m15.086s

FP2 - BEST TIME PER COMPOUND
Soft 	  Hamilton 1m14.941s
Supersoft Verstappen 1m15.259s
Ultrasoft Hamilton 1m14.212s

MOST LAPS BY COMPOUND
Soft 	  Palmer 42 laps
Supersoft Hulkenberg 28
Ultrasoft Rosberg 29 
	  Grosjean 29

Tyre statistics of the day:
			   Soft Supersoft Ultrasoft
kms driven * 		   1988 1957 	  2149
sets used overall ** 	   35 	34 	  27
highest number of laps **  42 	28 	  29

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