Pirelli F1 Australian GP Friday practices review 24.03.2017: 2017 Australian Grand Prix - Practice Sessions - Lewis Hamilton comfortably fastest in both

2017 Australian Grand Prix - Practice Sessions




- Lewis Hamilton comfortably fastest in both sessions with the P Zero Purple Ultrasoft, making its debut in Australia

- Performance gap of around 0.7 seconds per lap between the compounds so far, lap times 5 seconds faster than last year

- The new Era of Formula1 opens with a "green" and dirty track at Melbourne: High levels of track evolution expected


Formula 1’s new era began with Friday’s two free practice sessions on a ‘green’ track at Albert Park, so lap times are expected to improve further over the course of the weekend.


 Already, the fastest time in FP2 is quicker than last year’s pole, with Lewis Hamilton going fastest for Mercedes in both sessions today on the P Zero Purple ultrasoft tyre.



Mercedes was the only team to use the ultrasoft in FP1, with the other teams trying it for the first time in FP2. The weather remained dry and warm for both sessions, with FP2 getting underway in ambient temperatures of 25 degrees centigrade.



MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF CAR RACING


“We saw times today that were around five seconds faster than the equivalent sessions last year, using the ultrasoft for the first time here. So far, there is a performance difference of around 0.7 seconds per lap between the soft and supersoft, as well as the supersoft and ultrasoft.



During the Barcelona test, that gap was in the region of 0.3 -0.5 seconds. Now we need to look at degradation: it’s obviously much lower than last year, but along with the teams we have to see to what extent the difference between the compounds here will influence race strategy.”





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.



COMPOUND DRIVER TIME

SOFT Raikkonen 1m 25.994s
SUPERSOFT Ricciardo 1m 24.886s
ULTRASOFT Hamilton 1m 24.220s
COMPOUND DRIVER TIME
SOFT Hamilton 1m 25.096s
SUPERSOFT Vettel 1m 24.926s
ULTRASOFT Hamilton 1m 23.620s



COMPOUND DRIVER LAPS

SOFT Wehrlein 25
SUPERSOFT Ericsson 24
SUPERSOFT Vettel 24
ULTRASOFT Hamilton 25
Kms driven* 1213 2258 1553
Sets used overall** 20 38 22


MINIMUM PRESCRIBED TYRE PRESSURES

22 psi (fronts) – 19.5 psi (rears)




Anthony Peacock - photo Pirelli