WHAT WE LEARNED FROM FP1 AND FP2
- The FP2 session in Austria was interrupted by two red flags following accidents for Max Verstappen (Red Bull) and Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes): the Red Bull Ring is proving to be as unforgiving as ever, requiring maximum precision.
- No graining was detected either in FP1 or FP2 on any of the compounds.
- The battle at the top is finely poised, with Mercedes and Ferrari claiming a session each today, on each occasion with the soft compound.
- Track temperatures were among the highest seen all year, peaking at 55 degrees centigrade on track and 34 degrees ambient in the afternoon. Similar weather is expected over the rest of the weekend, which could be the hottest of the entire season.
- The famous ‘sausage kerbs’ are still a hazard if going off-line: Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg broke his front wing after hitting one in FP1, bringing out another red flag.
- On such a short track and fast lap, there is currently a performance gap of 0.7s per lap between soft and medium, and 0.5s between medium and hard.
- For the same reason, the gaps in the overall classification are very close, with the top 13 in FP2 covered by less than a second.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF CAR RACING
“Today we had some of the hottest track temperatures we’ve experienced in Formula 1, peaking at 55 degrees centigrade, with similar weather expected for the remainder of the weekend. Despite these very punishing conditions, the tyres experienced no issues. It was a tricky day driving-wise with changing winds in FP2, and both FP1 and FP2 being interrupted by red flags. This underlines the usual difficulty of this circuit, enhanced by the closeness of the competition here, making every small advantage in terms of set-up and strategy crucial. The teams will be looking to make up for lost time during FP3 tomorrow, before heading into what is likely to be an extremely close qualifying session in the afternoon.”

FREE PRACTICE 1 – TOP 3 TIMES
DRIVER		TIME		COMPOUND
Hamilton	1m04.838s	SOFT C4 USED
Vettel		1m04.982s	MEDIUM C3 NEW
Bottas		1m04.999s	SOFT C4 NEW

FREE PRACTICE 2 – TOP 3 TIMES
DRIVER		TIME		COMPOUND
Leclerc 	1m05.086s 	SOFT C4 USED
Bottas 		1m05.417s 	MEDIUM C3 USED
Gasly 		1m05.487s 	SOFT C4 NEW

FP1 - BEST TIME BY COMPOUND
COMPOUND	DRIVER		TIME
HARD C2		Norris		1m06.125s
MEDIUM C3	Vettel		1m04.982s
SOFT C4		Hamilton	1m04.838s

FP2 - BEST TIME BY COMPOUND
COMPOUND	DRIVER		TIME
HARD C2		Hamilton	1m05.529s
MEDIUM C3	Bottas		1m05.471s
SOFT C4		Leclerc		1m05.086s

MOST LAPS BY COMPOUND SO FAR
COMPOUND	DRIVER		LAPS
HARD C2		Vettel		25
MEDIUM C3	Kubica		31
SOFT C4		Grosjean	27

TYRE STATISTICS OF THE DAY
 			HARD	MEDIUM	SOFT
Kms driven*		917	1328	3188
Sets used overall**	11	19	52

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