F1 Fanatic

Friday practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix showed drivers will have a lot of work on their hands to keep life in their tyres.

Several drivers remarked on the difficulty of managing the tyres over a race stint in the second practice session.

Heikki Kovalainen said: “This morning the track wasn’t as dusty as we’d feared, so the grip levels were ok.

“That meant we could take a proper look at the degradation levels on the prime tyres in FP1 and it was immediately clear that the heat and the nature of this track will mean managing wear rates is going to be crucial on Sunday.

“Rear grip is an area we’ll have to pay particular attention to and we tried a few setup changes to try and manage that, but I think it’ll be the same for everyone.”

Longest stint comparison

This chart shows all the drivers’ lap times (in seconds) during their longest unbroken stint:

As the chart shows, high tyre temperatures made life difficult for the drivers on race stints. Look at how much more quickly the lap times rise here than they did for the Chinese Grand prix last weekend.

Remember they’re using the same tyre compounds here as in China – medium and soft – the difference is the track configuration and temperature. Lewis Hamilton said: “Looking after the tyres here is going to be a real challenge.

“The track surface is extremely hot, and the amount of energy that goes through the tyres under braking is incredible: the temperatures keep on rising until it feels just like driving on an ice-rink.

“Tyre degradation will be a big issue for everyone around here and the weekend will be all about who can look after the tyres the best.”

Nico Rosberg added: “The most important thing still is to improve our race pace. For the moment, it looks reasonable but we need to analyse where we are on high fuel levels compared to our competitors and draw our conclusions.

“The conditions are really tough out there, so the race will be quite demanding from the tyre perspective.”

Sector times and ultimate lap times – second practice

All three of the fastest sector times were set by Mercedes. Rosberg was comfortably the quickest driver in the second session but Hamilton said changing conditions were partly to blame: “Wind direction also played a huge role today.

“On one lap, there’d be a headwind going into turn four, the next lap, it’d be a tailwind, then a crosswind. And that makes a big difference around the circuit. I think my fastest lap was set half an hour after Nico set the fastest time of the session, and the wind was very different.”

Lotus did not look too competitive based on their times in second practice. But that was also the case in China, where they took fourthon the grid.

Technical director James Allison said: “There’s a pattern emerging over the first four races where it seems that the programme we run on a Friday is different from that run by other teams, so you can’t draw too many conclusions merely from looking at our position on the timing monitors.”

Complete practice times

Force India ran both tyre compounds in first practice as they anticipated not running in the second session.

Despite missing the better track conditions in second practice, di Resta was the sixth-quickest driver on Friday.

Speed trap

Red Bull’s poor straight-line speed is much in evidence again – Mark Webber was only faster than the two Marussias through the speed trap.

2012 Bahrain Grand Prix

• Vettel “never wasted a thought” on Ferrari protest
• F1 fans’ videos from the Chinese and Bahrain races
• Raikkonen voted Bahrain GP Driver of the Weekend
• Rate the race result: 2012 Bahrain Grand Prix
• Mugello test crucial for Ferrari’s championship chances

Image © Pirelli/LAT