The new asphalt laid before the race last year showed itself to be smooth and offer good grip one year on; and its dark colour also means that it increases track temperature. Track temperature already started quite off warm in FP1 and then got around eight degrees hotter in FP2, with the supersoft tyre consistently quickest in both sessions. We were able to effectively assess the lap time differences between the soft and supersoft, which will be the main race tyres, but there’s still a question mark about degradation due to the long runs being interrupted by the two red flags in FP2. At the front in particular, the pace seems very closely matched.