British Grand Prix: Friday Recap

FP1 was held under a blistering Silverstone sun – Friday’s forecast set to be the best of the weekend at the Northamptonshire track. MoneyGram Haas F1 Team ran a split strategy to start the opening session opting for the Pirelli P Zero White hard tire on Magnussen’s VF-23 with Hulkenberg’s entry utilizing the Yellow medium rubber.

Both cars pitted for the Red soft compound – on which each driver set their respective best laps. Magnussen posted a 1:30.385 (P19) while Hulkenberg recorded a 1:30.591 (P20). High-fuel runs closed out the session for both entries.

FP2 later in the day saw the pace pick up with the track temperature hitting 42 degrees Celsius (107.6 degrees Fahrenheit) while air temperature hovered at 26 degrees Celsius (78.8 degrees Fahrenheit). Magnussen sampled the Yellow medium rubber to start before switching onto the softs. Running a different set-up to his teammate, the Dane banked a best tour of 1:29.439 (P17).

Hulkenberg opted to start on the hard compound before he too swapped onto the soft rubber for a quali sim. The German’s fastest lap of 1:28.880 placed him P7 for the session. Friday’s track running concluded with more high-fuel runs through to the checkered flag.

MoneyGram Haas F1 Team ran a total of 91 laps on Friday across FP1 and FP2 – 50 by Hulkenberg and 41 by Magnussen.

Kevin Magnussen:

“It’s normal focusing on the set up and tires on a Friday. I think we looked a little bit weak today but then again Nico put in a very good lap time on his side. There’s something we can learn from that hopefully. We know our car usually can do one lap but then struggles in the race. I think my focus is really at the end of the day more on race pace and tire performance.”

Nico Hulkenberg:

“It’s fast here, super dynamic and also the wind direction was good today when going through all of the nice high-speed sections. It’s impressive the speed and the change of direction and the forces we go through. It was an okay day today, the long run didn’t feel too bad, but I was almost always by myself, alone, so it isn’t entirely representative come Sunday. We’re trying to get on top of the long runs a bit more and find some more pace, tire management and see what we can do. I think one lap pace looked okay but we need to focus on what we can do better in the race to extract the most.”

Guenther Steiner, Team Principal:

“FP1 was difficult, we were trying some stuff to sort our issues out and I think what we learned from there, we got better in FP2. Nico did pretty well also, the long run didn’t look too bad. Obviously, it was a long run but it was 15 laps, and we need to do more than 15 laps on these tires. I think we’re going in the right direction. Kevin struggled a little bit, but we’re reverting his set-up to Nico’s set-up, at his wish, and hopefully he can be with Nico in FP3 and in qualifying.”

Today's Data

Event: Free Practice 1 & 2 for the British Grand Prix – Friday July 7
Location: Silverstone Circuit, England
Layout: 5.891-kilometer (3.66-mile), 18-turn circuit
FP1 & FP2 Weather: Sunny
Drivers: Kevin Magnussen & Nico Hulkenberg 

Free Practice 1 (FP1) Rundown:

Magnussen: 19th overall (1:30.385), 21 laps completed
Hulkenberg: 20th overall (1:30.591), 22 laps completed
Fastest: Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing (1:28.600)

Free Practice 2 (FP2) Rundown:

Hulkenberg: 7th overall (1:28.880), 28 laps completed
Magnussen: 17th overall (1:29.439), 20 laps completed
Fastest: Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing (1:28.078)