11
November
2016
|
20:12
Europe/Amsterdam

2016 Brazilian Grand Prix - Practice Sessions

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

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. 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. 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  
Hamilton1m11.895sSoft NewHamilton1m12.271sSoft New
Verstappen1m11.991sSoft NewRosberg1m12.301sSoft New
Rosberg1m12.125sSoft NewBottas1m12.761sSoft New

FP1 - BEST TIME PER COMPOUND

HardHulkenberg1m14.358s
MediumHamilton1m13.157s
SoftHamilton1m11.895s

FP2 - BEST TIME PER COMPOUND

HardRaikkonen1m14.369s
MediumHamilton1m13.157s
SoftHamilton1m12.271s

LONGEST STINTS OF THE DAY

HardGutierrez21 laps
MediumNasr31
SoftRosberg22

Tyre statistics of the day:

 HardMediumSupersoft
kms driven *27931492679
sets used overall **64243
highest number of laps **213122

* 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 (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. 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. For more information: please visit our all-new website, which is regularly updated with exclusive in-depth features, news and reviews. To find out more, please visit: http://racing.pirelli.com/global/en-ww/brazil-2016-practice