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While England is
often associated with changeable weather, conditions were dry and warm all
day, with track temperatures in excess of 45 degrees centigrade. Similarly
warm weather is expected for the rest of the weekend.
Mercedes was quickest in the first free practice session this morning,
courtesy of Lewis Hamilton on the soft tyres, while Sebastian Vettel used
the same compound to go fastest in the afternoon. While both sessions were
notably quicker than their equivalents last year, Hamilton’s pole time from
2017 is yet to be beaten.
The new track surface at Silverstone has contributed to these faster times,
but drivers have also described it as bumpy. All three nominated tyres were
used extensively today, with the P Zero Ice Blue hard making its 2018 debut.
MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF CAR RACING
“No real surprises today, with all the compounds performing exactly as we
expected them to and no issues encountered. This is despite Silverstone
being one of the most demanding tracks of the year with its long and
high-speed corners, intensified by high temperatures all day that are
expected to continue into the weekend. The bumps and a changing wind
direction were two more hurdles for drivers to overcome, but they managed to
complete their scheduled programmes as planned, learning not only about the
new surface but also about the hard tyre and how it relates to the end two
other well-known compounds that we have brought to Silverstone. The gap
between the compounds so far is slightly bigger than expected, with two
seconds covering the whole selection here from hard to soft.” |
FREE PRACTICE 1 – TOP 3 TIMES
DRIVER TIME COMPOUND
Hamilton 1m27.487s SOFT NEW
Bottas 1m27.854s SOFT NEW
Vettel 1m27.998s SOFT NEW
FREE PRACTICE 2 – TOP 3 TIMES
DRIVER TIME COMPOUND
Vettel 1m27.552s SOFT NEW
Hamilton 1m27.739s SOFT NEW
Bottas 1m27.909s SOFT NEW
FP1 - BEST TIME BY COMPOUND
COMPOUND DRIVER TIME
SOFT Hamilton 1m27.487s
MEDIUM Verstappen 1m28.325s
HARD Ricciardo 1m29.970s
FP2 - BEST TIME BY COMPOUND
COMPOUND DRIVER TIME
SOFT Vettel 1m27.552s
MEDIUM Raikkonen 1m28.591s
HARD Bottas 1m29.573s
MOST LAPS BY COMPOUND SO FAR
COMPOUND DRIVER LAPS
SOFT Gasly 23
MEDIUM Vettel 24
HARD Hulkenberg, Sirotkin 20
TYRE STATISTICS OF THE DAY
HARD MEDIUM SOFT
Kms driven* 229 998 1880
Sets used overall** 10 25 47
* The above number gives the total amount of kilometres
driven in FP1 and FP2 today, all drivers combined.
** Per compound, all drivers combined.
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