Singapore GP: Pirelli Friday Practice Review

The fastest-ever laps of the Marina Bay circuit were run today, with Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo smashing the previous all-time record of 1m42.584s by more than two and a half seconds. This was thanks to a time of 1m40.852s on the P Zero Purple ultrasoft in FP2: 3.3 seconds faster than last year’s best FP2 time.

The ultrasoft compound has proved to be around a second faster than the supersoft so far, with a high degree of track evolution during FP1 after some mid-morning rain. Conditions for both sessions remained dry though with high humidity: typical of Singapore’s tricky and bumpy asphalt, with all three compounds used today.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF CAR RACING
“We’ve seen a very big increase in speed compared to last year, with the lap record already broken in FP1 and the fastest FP2 time more than three seconds quicker than last year’s equivalent. In many ways, this isn’t much of a surprise as the 2017 tyres and regulations enhance cornering speeds specifically, and at 23 corners Marina Bay has more corners than any other track. There’s a gap of around a second between the supersoft and ultrasoft so far; it’s a bit harder to assess the soft as there was less running on it today. However, if its pace is close enough to the supersoft, it could certainly come into play as a potential race tyre on Sunday.”

FREE PRACTICE 1 – TOP 3 TIMES
DRIVER 		TIME 	   COMPOUND 
Ricciardo 	1m 42.489s ULTRASOFT NEW
Vettel		1m 42.598s ULTRASOFT NEW
Verstappen 	1m 42.610s ULTRASOFT NEW

FREE PRACTICE 2 – TOP 3 TIMES
DRIVER 		TIME 	   COMPOUND 
Ricciardo 	1m 40.852s ULTRASOFT NEW
Verstappen	1m 41.408s ULTRASOFT NEW
Hamilton 	1m 41.555s ULTRASOFT NEW

FP1 - BEST TIME BY COMPOUND
COMPOUND 	DRIVER 	   TIME
SOFT 		- 	    -
SUPERSOFT	Hamilton   1m 44.236s
ULTRASOFT 	Ricciardo  1m 42.489s

FP2 - BEST TIME BY COMPOUND
COMPOUND 	DRIVER 	   TIME 
SOFT 		Hamilton   1m 42.505s
SUPERSOFT	Verstappen 1m 42.077s
ULTRASOFT 	Ricciardo  1m 40.852s

MOST LAPS BY COMPOUND SO FAR
COMPOUND 	DRIVER 	    		   LAPS
SOFT 		Vettel 	    		   23
SUPERSOFT	Grosjean-Perez-Verstappen  23
ULTRASOFT 	Ricciardo 		   26

TYRE STATISTICS OF THE DAY
			SOFT	SUPER SOFT	ULTRA SOFT
Kms driven* 		314 	1856 		3556
Sets used overall**	5	25		51

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