#F1 @PirelliSport Friday Report #FP1 #FP2 #BrazilGP

DRY AND WARM WEATHER FOR NOW DURING INTERLAGOS FREE PRACTICE

DRIVERS GENERALLY CONCENTRATE ON THE FASTEST SOFT TYRE BEFORE MOVING TO MEDIUM FOR LONGER RUNS

MERCEDES FASTEST IN BOTH SESSIONS TODAY: AROUND 1.3 SECONDS SEPARATE MEDIUM AND SOFT COMPOUNDS

Interlagos, November 11, 2016 – A dry and warm Interlagos circuit meant that the drivers were able to run all three slick compounds in free practice – but it’s not yet clear what the conditions will be for the remainder of the weekend. Wet weather is forecast for tomorrow and possibly for race day as well, meaning that conditions today may not turn out to be representative.

A Mercedes topped each of the free practice sessions, but the frontrunners were closely matched on an evolving track, with Williams driver Felipe Massa also having a spell at the head of the FP2 classification during his final home grand prix.

Track temperatures peaked at 50 degrees centigrade by the finish of FP2, as the teams ended the session concentrating on longer runs on each compound with varying fuel loads. So far, around 1.3 seconds separate the medium and soft compounds, with the gap between hard and medium being much smaller. Friday also saw the reemergence of HALO tests.

It looks cosy… #FP1 #BrazilGP pic.twitter.com/N5Mo8AqRaD

— Renault Sport F1 (@RenaultSportF1) November 11, 2016

Drivers cleaned up a dirty and ‘green’ track during the first session this morning, before more rubber was laid down and they concentrated on longer runs in the afternoon, also using the harder compounds. The fastest time of the day was set by Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton in FP1 on the soft tyre, when the teams targeted shorter rather than longer runs in cooler conditions, around half a second off last year’s pole position benchmark.

Spotted in the paddock: A very special livery. Rather than running its usual ‘Martini’ logo, the Williams of Felipe Massa had a ‘Massa’ livery on the engine cover, helping the Brazilian to celebrate his final home race.

Paul Hembery, Pirelli motorsport director: “A busy day at Interlagos today, but we’ll see how useful it turns out to be over the rest of the weekend. The teams got a good initial read on the wear and degradation rates here, which seem reasonably high on the soft tyre in particular, with the right-rear tyre doing the most work over a lap of Interlagos. Whether it’s wet or dry we’re likely to see a multi-stop race, but the weather will be the key determining factor of both qualifying and the grand prix itself.”

 

FP1 – TIMES			FP2 – TIMES
Hamilton	1m11.895s	Soft New	Hamilton	1m12.271s	Soft New
Verstappen	1m11.991s	Soft New	Rosberg	1m12.301s	Soft New
Rosberg	1m12.125s	Soft New	Bottas	1m12.761s	Soft New

FP1 – BEST TIME PER COMPOUND:

Hard	Hulkenberg	1m14.358s
Medium	Hamilton	1m13.157s
Soft	Hamilton	1m11.895s

FP2 – BEST TIME PER COMPOUND:

Hard	Raikkonen	1m14.369s
Medium	Hamilton	1m13.157s
Soft	Hamilton	1m12.271s

LONGEST STINTS OF THE DAY:

Hard	Gutierrez	21 laps
Medium	Nasr	31 laps
Soft	Rosberg	22 laps

TYRE STATISTICS OF THE DAY:

	Hard	Medium	Supersoft
kms driven *	279	3149	2679
sets used overall **	6	42	43
highest number of laps **	21	31	22

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

** Per compound, all drivers combined.

Minimum prescribed tyre pressures: 22.5 psi (fronts)
21.5 psi EDIT: Revised to 20.5 psi (rears)

Pirelli fact of the day: Honda fans are in good company: Sao Paulo contains the world’s biggest Japanese community of any city outside Japan. As a result, sushi has become just as well established as meat on Brazilian menus, with the Japanese community based mainly in the Liberdade district, around 13 kilometres from Interlagos.