F1 | Pirelli, Isola: “Times faster by about five seconds compared to the 2016 tests”

The new Formula 1 began with the first two free practice sessions on Friday on the Albert Park track in Melbourne, which was initially quite dirty. For this reason, lap times are expected to improve over the course of the weekend. Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes was fastest in FP2, already faster than pole position a year ago. The English driver dominated both free practice sessions on ultrasoft P Zero tyres, while Mercedes was the only team to use ultrasofts in FP1, followed by the other teams in FP2. The two sessions were held in hot, dry weather and temperatures of 25°C reached during FP2.

Here are the words of Mario Isola, car racing manager: “Today we saw times around five seconds faster than Friday practice in 2016, with the Ultrasoft compound brought to this track for the first time. The difference in performance between supersoft and soft is approximately 0,7 seconds per lap, and the same gap is recorded between supersoft and ultrasoft. During the pre-season tests in Barcelona the gap was in the order of 0,3-0,5 seconds. Now we need to look at the degradation: it is obviously much lower than last year, but together with the teams we need to see to what extent the difference between the compounds will influence the race strategy."