Bridgestone will be analysing the used tyres after the first two practice session in Turkey today.
Jenson Button set the fastest time of the day on the soft compound, while his teammate Lewis Hamilton used the hard tyres to set the quickest lap time in the morning session.
Hirohide Hamashima, Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development explains what was significant about today’s running from the tyre company’s viewpoint: “Today we met a very dirty and dusty track, which is usual for the first day's running at Istanbul Park as this circuit is not used as frequently as others we visit.
“This meant that finding sufficient grip was difficult and we saw quite a lot of graining on the right front and right rear tyres because of this. In the morning the track surface did not improve very much, however in the afternoon there was a lot of surface evolution by the end of the session.
“This was the first time we have experienced Turn Eight with the latest specification cars and on heavy fuel loads, so it was a very interesting day for us. Now we will analyse the tyres very closely, including cutting them up and examining them under the microscope.”
Hamashima says that the way the track develops over the weekend will influence the team’s tyre strategies: “The key here is the amount of track surface evolution which occurs before Sunday and then during the course of the race. As we saw today, the track temperature was very hot, so careful tyre management from car set-up and the drivers will be very important this weekend.”