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FRIDAY TYRE SUMMARY
* Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas was fastest of all today, with a time of
1m34.874s set in the morning FP1 session, using the P Zero Red soft tyre.
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez was slightly slower than him in the warmer
conditions of the afternoon to set the fastest time of the FP2 session, also
on the soft tyre. This was also due to the comparatively low levels of track
evolution in FP2, and the fact that most drivers concentrated their work on
the medium tyres.
* Around 40% of the track has been resurfaced since Formula 1 last raced at
the Circuit of the Americas in 2019. However, this has not made a
significant difference to the way that the tyres behave, with relatively
high levels of abrasion. Several bumps are also still present despite some
surface ‘milling’: a process designed to smooth out the asphalt.
* The afternoon FP2 session, run in comparable conditions to the race, got
underway with ambient temperatures of 31 degrees centigrade and track
temperatures of 39 degrees: around 20 degrees higher than two years ago.
Exploring the capabilities of the soft tyres in the unseasonal heat was one
of the key jobs for the teams during FP2, with the drivers mostly starting
the session on the C3 medium and finishing it with some longer runs on the
same compound. The P Zero White hard tyre was run less today, perhaps also
due to drivers wanting to save the limited allocation of this compound for
use later in the weekend.
* The estimated performance gaps so far are quite hard to calculate between
the hard and the medium tyre in particular, which should be in the region of
0.5 seconds (based on the running so far). There’s a gap of around 0.6 to
0.7 seconds between the medium and soft up to now: marginally higher than
expected.
MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF CAR RACING
“Despite the circuit having been resurfaced for around 40% of its total
length, there’s not a huge difference in terms of abrasion compared to our
last visit in 2019, and it's also even more bumpy. The biggest difference
has instead been the weather, with both track and ambient temperatures
considerably warmer than the cool conditions experienced a couple of years
ago. As expected in today’s warm temperatures, there was a bit of
overheating on the soft C4 compound rear tyre, which is quite stressed given
the severe traction demands of this circuit in the final sector especially.
Managing the soft tyre looks to be key, and this is something that the teams
will be looking at in more detail tomorrow, with some likely to try and get
through Q2 on the medium tyre in order to start with it on Sunday and open
up a wider range of strategic possibilities for the race. However, with a
bigger performance gap compared to the soft than we saw this morning, the
soft certainly has its advantages too: especially with a two-stopper looking
likely.” |
TOP 3 TIMES
FP1
Bottas 1m34.874s SOFT C4 NEW
Hamilton 1m34.919s SOFT C4 USED
Verstappen 1m35.806s SOFT C4 NEW
FP2
Pérez 1m34.946s SOFT C4 NEW
Norris 1m35.203s SOFT C4 NEW
Hamilton 1m35.310s SOFT C4 NEW
BEST TIME BY COMPOUND
FP1
HARD C2 Pérez 1m36.798s
MEDIUM C3 Ricciardo 1m37.458s
SOFT C4 Bottas 1m34.874s
FP2
HARD C2 Ocon 1m37.440s
MEDIUM C3 Pérez 1m35.716s
SOFT C4 Pérez 1m34.946s
MOST LAPS BY COMPOUND SO FAR
COMPOUND DRIVER LAPS
HARD C2 Mazepin, Ocon, Pérez 17
MEDIUM C3 Pérez 21
SOFT C4 Sainz 16
TYRE STATISTICS OF THE DAY
HARD MEDIUM SOFT
Kms driven* 568 1990 2035
Sets used overall** 8 24 49
* 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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