As Hockenheim returned to grand prix action for the first time since 2016, track temperatures in FP2 peaked at more than 50 degrees centigrade, with Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull closely matched. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen set the fastest time of the day on the P Zero Purple ultrasoft in FP2 (nominated alongside the medium and soft), as this compound made its debut on the relatively short Hockenheimring.

Despite today’s unexpectedly warm conditions, the weather is expected to worsen tonight with the possibility of rain on Saturday, before more dry weather on Sunday. This could add an extra element to the strategy calculations, with around 0.9 seconds currently separating all the nominations in Germany from medium to ultrasoft.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF CAR RACING
“Hockenheim had higher than anticipated temperatures today, but all the tyres performed entirely in line with expectations, with no issues whatsoever. The medium tyre was actually a bit closer to the soft than expected in these conditions, because of the high temperatures. However, the warm weather may change tomorrow, which will obviously have an impact on tyre behaviour and race strategy. Today’s free practice session was all about the teams and drivers re-familiarising themselves with the Hockenheimring and assessing how the 2018 tyres interact with the circuit. From what we can see so far, all three compounds look to be viable options for the race, but there are still many more developments to come with plenty of data to analyse”.

FREE PRACTICE 1 – TOP 3 TIMES
DRIVER 		TIME      COMPOUND
Ricciardo 	1m13.525s ULTRASOFT NEW
Hamilton	1m13.529s ULTRASOFT NEW
Verstappen 	1m13.714s ULTRASOFT NEW

FREE PRACTICE 2 – TOP 3 TIMES
DRIVER 		TIME 	  COMPOUND
Verstappen 	1m13.085s ULTRASOFT NEW
Hamilton	1m13.111s ULTRASOFT NEW
Bottas 		1m13.190s ULTRASOFT NEW

FP1 - BEST TIME BY COMPOUND
COMPOUND 	DRIVER 	   TIME
ULTRASOFT 	Ricciardo  1m13.525s
SOFT		Vettel 	   1m13.796s
MEDIUM 		Verstappen 1m15.055s

FP2 - BEST TIME BY COMPOUND
COMPOUND 	DRIVER 	   TIME
ULTRASOFT 	Verstappen 1m13.085s
SOFT		Verstappen 1m13.356s
MEDIUM 		Hamilton   1m13.703s

MOST LAPS BY COMPOUND SO FAR
		DRIVER 		LAPS
ULTRASOFT	Hulkenberg 	26
SOFT		Sirotkin	28
MEDIUM		Sainz 		29

TYRE STATISTICS OF THE DAY
			MEDIUM	SOFT	ULTRASOFT
Kms driven* 		1312 	1874 	2679
Sets used overall**	15	26	38

* The above number gives the total amount of kilometres
driven in FP1 and FP2 today, all drivers combined.
** Per compound, all drivers combined.