Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton has gone fastest in the second free practice session at Austin using the ultrasoft tyre, ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, following a morning FP1 session that started in damp conditions. This meant that all the drivers began the day’s action using the intermediates (with just one car selecting the wets) before moving onto the slicks for the second half of FP1 and the whole of FP2.

The drivers were able to test a prototype softer intermediate compound in the morning. Data has now to be analysed. These tyres used an unaltered construction.

Hamilton’s fastest lap on the ultrasofts in FP2 was also the fastest-ever lap of the Circuit of the Americas, beating the previous benchmark, which was his own pole from last year.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF CAR RACING
“It was very much a day of contrasts in Austin, with damp weather in FP1 followed by warmer weather in the afternoon. And of course, one of the biggest contrasts was our pink ultrasoft tyres, compared to their usual purple colour, which certainly attracted a lot of attention! The varying conditions today meant that it was quite hard to obtain consistent data, but we saw the fastest-ever lap of Austin set in FP2 using the ultrasoft despite a tricky FP1. This morning we tried out a prototype intermediate compound, which was softer than the current compound, but with the same construction. There are still some questions to be answered about how all the compounds interact with the track this weekend.”

FREE PRACTICE 1 – TOP 3 TIMES
DRIVER 		TIME 	   COMPOUND 
Hamilton 	1m 36.335s SUPERSOFT NEW
Vettel		1m 36.928s SUPERSOFT NEW
Bottas 		1m 36.979s SUPERSOFT NEW

FREE PRACTICE 2 – TOP 3 TIMES
DRIVER 		TIME 	   COMPOUND
Hamilton 	1m 34.668s ULTRASOFT NEW
Verstappen	1m 35.065s ULTRASOFT NEW
Vettel 		1m 35.192s ULTRASOFT NEW

FP1 - BEST TIME BY COMPOUND
COMPOUND 	DRIVER 	   TIME
SOFT 		Ocon 	   1m 37.808s
SUPERSOFT	Hamilton   1m 36.335s
ULTRASOFT 	Vandoorne  1m 37.352s
INTERMEDIATE	Massa	   1m 47.692s

FP2 - BEST TIME BY COMPOUND
COMPOUND 	DRIVER 	   TIME
SOFT 		Verstappen 1m 36.328s
SUPERSOFT	Ricciardo  1m 36.116s
ULTRASOFT 	Hamilton   1m 34.668s

MOST LAPS BY COMPOUND SO FAR
COMPOUND 	DRIVER 	   LAPS 
SOFT 		Kvyat 	   21
SUPERSOFT	Sainz	   25
ULTRASOFT 	Hartley    20
INTERMEDIATE   	Sainz  	   9
WET 		Stroll     1

TYRE STATISTICS OF THE DAY
		     SOFT  SUPER  ULTRA  INTER WET
Kms driven* 	     726   1890   1895   369   5
Sets used overall**  11    26     26     15    1

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