Belgian GP: Pirelli Friday Practice Review


By Courtesy of Pirelli
August 28 2021

 
 Pirelli Belgian GP Friday Practice Review
 
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FRIDAY TYRE SUMMARY
* Despite intermittent rain throughout the day, the Cinturato Green intermediate tyre was used only for installation laps (allowing an extra set of intermediate tyres under the regulations) before the drivers switched to P Zero slicks. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen set the fastest time of the day in FP2 on the P Zero Red soft C4 tyre: the same compound that Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas used to top the timesheets at the end of FP1.
* Verstappen was quickest for a large part of the FP1 session as well: impressively he used the P Zero White hard C2 tyre to stay in front of several drivers behind him on the soft.
* Track conditions were far from ideal today: although there was dry running for most of the day and there was already some rubber on track from the Spa 24 Hours at the beginning of the month, the damp and inconsistent surface (with track temperatures at around 20 degrees) meant that drivers struggled for grip. The FP2 session was interrupted by two red flags, as both Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Verstappen went off.
* As a result, it was quite hard to gain reliable information about the true performance gaps between the tyres today. However, based on simulation data, there is roughly 0.5 seconds between the P Zero Red soft and P Zero Yellow medium, and approximately 0.6 seconds between the P Zero Yellow medium and P Zero White hard.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF CAR RACING
“We experienced typically variable weather at Spa, and that seems set to remain the case for the rest of the weekend! If it rains, it will be important for teams to consider the crossover point from wet weather tyres to slicks and vice versa. The track remained tricky all day and we saw drivers struggling to find a consistent lap time in these mixed conditions, which is why it’s also quite hard to get an idea of the true performance gaps at the moment. Nonetheless, all the tyres apart from the full wet were sampled, with the teams able to collect relevant data.”

 
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TOP 3 TIMES
FP1
Bottas		1m45.199s	SOFT C4 NEW
Verstappen	1m45.363s	SOFT C4 NEW
Gasly		1m45.699s	SOFT C4 NEW

FP2
Verstappen	1m44.472s	SOFT C4 NEW
Bottas		1m44.513s	MEDIUM C3 NEW
Hamilton	1m44.544s	MEDIUM C3 NEW

BEST TIME BY COMPOUND
FP1
HARD C2		Verstappen	1m45.905s
MEDIUM C3	Ocon		1m47.219s
SOFT C4		Bottas		1m45.199s

FP2
HARD C2		Norris		1m46.153s
MEDIUM C3	Bottas		1m44.513s
SOFT C4		Verstappen	1m44.472s

MOST LAPS BY COMPOUND SO FAR
COMPOUND	DRIVER		LAPS
HARD C2		Gasly, Tsunoda	12
MEDIUM C3	Mazepin		17
SOFT C4		Latifi		14

TYRE STATISTICS OF THE DAY
 			HARD	MEDIUM	SOFT
Kms driven*		1134	1323	1926
Sets used overall**	18	20	40

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