Rain in both the first and second free practice sessions today meant that it wasn’t possible for the teams to complete much realistic running.
As well as wet weather, there were high winds and cool conditions that resulted in track temperatures that were around 20 degrees less than those recorded yesterday.
Paul Hembery, Pirelli motorsport director:
“A bit of a washout – that’s how we can describe today I think! Most of the running was on intermediates this afternoon, which we are unlikely to see being used in the race, although there’s a chance they will be needed again tomorrow. While nobody really learned a lot today, there was some slick tire running this morning, and we came close to the crossover point, enabling some useful data to be gathered about the intermediate. What this all means is that a season full of far-reaching changes has got off to an even more unpredictable start than expected, which opens up even more variables for the rest of the weekend. We’ll have to wait a little bit longer now to find out the true effect of the 2016 tire regulations.”
Top Free Practice Times:
1. Hamilton 1m29.725s
2. Kyvat 1m30.146s
3. Ricciardo 1m 30.875s
