Considering the forecast, it’s little surprise that Pirelli has brought its softest compounds to the race, P Zero Yellow soft and P Zero Red supersoft, as well as its full wets. One downside of the soft tires during the hot weather is that they don’t last very long, which teams discovered during practice today.
Mercedes AMG’s Lewis Hamilton ended Friday’s practice the fastest, posting a time of 1:18.341 on the supersoft tires in the second session. His teammate Nico Rosberg lead the way in the first session, posting a best lap time of 1:19.131. Both were dominant even without their cars’ FRIC system in place. Daniel Ricciardo in the Red Bull was third fastest and actually looked as though he could give the German team a hard time this weekend, so let’s hope there’s some action.
Going into tomorrow’s qualifying session and Sunday’s race, Nico Rosberg remains on top of the 2014 Drivers’ Championship table with 165 points, with Lewis Hamilton just four points behind. Daniel Ricciardo is a distant third with 98 points. In the Constructors’ Championship, Mercedes AMG leads with 326 points versus the 168 of Red Bull Racing and 106 of Ferrari.
