2016 Mexican Grand Prix - Practice Sessions

SEBASTIAN VETTEL GOES FASTEST FOR FERRARI DURING FREE PRACTICE USING SUPERSOFT TYRE: CLOSE TO 2015 POLE

COOL CONDITIONS ON FRIDAY IN MEXICO CITY: JUST 14 DEGREES AMBIENT IN THE MORNING, SLIGHTLY WARMER IN THE AFTERNOON

SOME GRAINING EXPERIENCED AS A RESULT OF LOW TEMPERATURES: LESS AND LESS AS THE ASPHALT PROGRESSED

Unexpected cool weather conditions were experienced during free practice for the Mexican Grand Prix, with the morning session starting in just 14 degrees centigrade ambient and the afternoon warming up to only 16 degrees centigrade. Track temperatures peaked at 27 degrees centigrade at the start of FP2, but fell slightly during the course of the afternoon session. These cool conditions caused some degree of graining and put the emphasis on tyre warm-up. As a result, the low working range medium tyre was quickest in the coolest conditions of the morning; however Sebastian Vettel went fastest of all for Ferrari in the afternoon with a time of 1m19.790s on the supersoft, ahead of the two Mercedes. Weather conditions are not expected to be greatly different for the remainder of the weekend, with the possibility of rain as well (a few drops were seen at the end of FP1). This made today’s work especially important: however, there was a very high degree of track evolution that means a full picture of relative performance is yet to emerge – which should be clearer following FP3 tomorrow with more rubber on the track. Paul Hembery, Pirelli motorsport director: “Nobody expected temperatures to be as low as they were today. As a result of this and also a high degree of track evolution – with the surface not appreciably different to how it was when new last year – it was hard to collect representative data today. It seems very unlikely now that we will have a warm weekend, so it will be interesting to see who unlocks the most out of the car and tyre package in these conditions.”

FP1 - BEST TIME PER COMPOUND

FP2 - BEST TIME PER COMPOUND

LONGEST STINTS OF THE DAY

Tyre statistics of the day:

* 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 psi (front) and 19,5 psi (rear) Pirelli fact of the day: One of the oldest races in Mexico was the legendary Carrera Panamericana. It originally ran from 1950 to 1954, and the most famous winner was none other than Juan Manuel Fangio on Pirelli tyres, who headed an all-Lancia podium in 1953. It was resurrected – still as a closed-road speed race – in 1988, with the most recent winner a few days ago also using Pirelli tyres. Spotted in the paddock: Juan Pablo Montoya. The Colombian won seven grands prix with Williams and McLaren, ending his F1 career after the USA Grand Prix in 2006. He’s also only the second driver to have won the Indycar title in his rookie year, after Nigel Mansell. 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/mexico-2016-practice