Abu Dhabi GP: Pirelli Friday Practice Review

The P Zero Pink hypersoft made its Abu Dhabi Grand Prix debut in competition, although this is the only circuit where the drivers have tested the softest compound before racing it (at the final official test last year).

There were some very close gaps between the frontrunners – with three-tenths covering the top six in FP2 – at a circuit that was already reasonably rubbered-in following regular use during the year.

Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas set fastest time of the day in FP2 on the hypersoft, despite some front graining throughout the field on this compound, while it was a Red Bull one-two in FP1. The second session was the only one to be representative of qualifying and the race, with track temperatures falling quickly as sundown turned into night.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF CAR RACING
“With the considerable performance gap of more than a second between the hypersoft and ultrasoft, we’re likely to see most drivers go through Q2 on the pink tyre tomorrow, as it’s a viable race tyre as well. This is a slightly bigger gap than we expected, while the gap of around 0.3 seconds between ultrasoft and supersoft is more in line with our expectations. Beyond that, there were no real surprises today, with the teams concentrating their work on the representative conditions of FP2. The gaps seem really close, so the teams will be studying the data carefully in order to see how strategy can make a difference. Overtaking is never especially easy here, so qualifying will be particularly important.”

FREE PRACTICE 1 – TOP 3 TIMES
DRIVER 		TIME   	  COMPOUND
Verstappen 	1m38.491s HYPERSOFT NEW
Ricciardo	1m38.945s HYPERSOFT NEW
Bottas 		1m39.452s SUPERSOFT USED

FREE PRACTICE 2 – TOP 3 TIMES
DRIVER 		TIME 	  COMPOUND
Bottas 		1m37.236s HYPERSOFT NEW
Verstappen	1m37.280s HYPERSOFT NEW
Ricciardo 	1m37.428s HYPERSOFT NEW

FP1 - BEST TIME BY COMPOUND
COMPOUND 	DRIVER 	   TIME
SUPERSOFT 	Bottas 	   1m39.452s
ULTRASOFT 	Hamilton   1m39.543s
HYPERSOFT 	Verstappen 1m38.491s

FP2 - BEST TIME BY COMPOUND
COMPOUND 	DRIVER 	    TIME
SUPERSOFT 	Hamilton    1m39.083s
ULTRASOFT 	Ricciardo   1m38.532s
HYPERSOFT 	Bottas      1m37.236s

MOST LAPS BY COMPOUND SO FAR
COMPOUND 	DRIVER 	    LAPS
SUPERSOFT 	Raikkonen   27
ULTRASOFT 	Bottas 	    26
HYPERSOFT 	Verstappen  18

TYRE STATISTICS OF THE DAY
			SOFT  ULTRASOFT	HYPERSOFT  
Kms driven* 		1571  1638 	3076
Sets used overall** 	15    19 	49

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