"Cato Batista" 29/07/2016 22:17:47 ID #982

Ladies and Gentlemen,

This was a repeat of most Fridays: Mercedes in front with Nico ahead of Lewis followed by a mix of Ferrari and Red Bull. McLaren claims is now the “4th team” but in reality it looks more like Force India has more chances (if any) to challenge the ‘big 3’. Toro Rosso was faster than Williams but in a power circuit like this expect the white cars to move up a few places tomorrow. Track temperatures were low to the benefit of Red Bull and Force India, but not good for Ferrari and Williams. Mercedes? They have no problem, either with different compound choices of track temperatures, they are miles ahead. The forecast for the next 2 days calls for similar conditions as today’s, but it has changed to a ‘very low’ probability of precipitation.

FP1- ROS (1.15.517) HAM VET RAI VER RIC ALO BUT KVY SAI

FP2- ROS (1.15.614) HAM VET VER RIC RAI HUL BUT PER ALO

It was the first time in several races that the teams dedicated Friday testing to work with the hardest compound available, the medium/white. In fact, Force India devoted FP1 to pile up most of their practice miles on the white tyres. In race simulations during FP2 Mercedes unsurprisingly were fastest lapping consistently in the 1.20s range, about 2s ahead of Red Bull, but there were worried faces in the Ferrari camp because they couldn’t get within a second of Red Bull in the 10-12 laps race full-load simulations, which could translate to 3 stops instead of 2 on Sunday, and that’s because tyre degradation has been very low but in a new twist the rubber is dropping all its grip without much warning, the dreaded "cliff". After today it’s more or less clear that the options for race day are 2 stops with super-soft/super-soft/medium or using the mediums in the mid stint and closing in used super-soft.  Lap times are 3 to 4 seconds faster than 2 years ago when the 1.6 turbo hybrid cars were about 6 months old, that is the speed of progress in F1.

Race control was closely looking at track limits, particularly in corner one where a wide exit (as in 4 wheels off the white line) represents a huge gain in top speed for the long straight ahead. Even today in the free sessions drivers were informed of the number of infractions committed. And after all the controversy arising from the radio communications ban, FIA has lifted all restrictions with immediate effect. So let’s get prepared for all kinds of pit wall-to-car conversations.

Here it is, another crack at the very elusive QF bonus points: Cato - HAM ROS VET

Over to you

Cheers