TYRE ANALYSIS: no graining on the opening day of running in Singapore

Formula One’s sole tyre supplier Pirelli has reported that neither of its tyres suffered from graining which opens up a wide vartiety of strategies for the remainder of the weekend.

Charles Leclerc set the pace in the opening practice, and although the Monegasque looked quick in the second one-hour running, his best lap time was eclipsed by McLaren’s Lando Norris.

The British driver stopped the clocks in 1’30”727, 58 thousandths quicker than the Ferrari man, with both drivers already under last year’s pole position time set by Carlos Sainz (1’30”984).

The fact that the track is considerably quicker than a year ago was already evident in FP1, when the same two drivers topped the time sheet, but in the reverse order, first the Monegasque in 1’31”763, second the Englishman in 1’31”839, also quicker than last year’s Friday times.

In terms of tyre usage, the initial impression is very different to last Friday in Baku, even though the three dry tyre compounds are the same. In Azerbaijan, the white-banded Hard was barely seen, with only Alpine and Mercedes doing significant runs with them, whereas here all the drivers used a set of C3s: 13 in the first session, seven in the second.

The “colour chart” on the long runs was also varied, with all three compounds used in race simulations for Sunday, even the Soft which usually does not see much use in the race.

Commenting on the day, Pirelli’s motorsport director Mario Isola insisted that the most positive note was that the soft has not suffered from graining which means that the red-banded compound might make an appearance in the race.

“A day that could be described as normal. Two hours of free practice went off without a hitch, with all teams trying all three available compounds, also with different fuel loads. From what we saw today, there was no graining, not even on the Soft, which could open the door to its eventual use on Sunday.

“With that in mind, it will be interesting to see how the teams tackle the third free practice sessions while there’s the mandatory selection of the Hard and a Medium, some could choose to hold back two Mediums while others might prefer having an extra set of new Softs for qualifying.

Isola confirmed that the track offers more grip compared to last year which is reflected by the lap times that are already quicker than last year’s pole position time.

“The track proved to be considerably quicker than last year, to the extent that the 2023 pole time has already been beaten. Apart from the inevitable improvement in car performance from one year to the next, it could also be down to the fact that the track, at least on the racing line, has been cleaned with high-pressure jet washers, which means the track surface offers better performance and is much cleaner.

“However, lap times will continue to come down as the track rubbers in, so it is conceivable that in qualifying we could even get below the 1’29”200 predicted for pole by the simulations provided by the teams going into this Grand Prix.

“One unknown factor could be the weather, as one can never rule out heavy showers here, straddling the Equator, which could see a reset of track conditions and a loss of the grip built up so far.”