Apr 29, 2016

Carlos Sainz is P10 at Free Practice 1 for the Russian GP

Soft tyres to rediscover once again Sochi's peculiar asphalt

Sochi, April 29th 2016.- Carlos Sainz finished tenth in the opening Free Practice session for the Russian Grand Prix. He completed 21 laps behind his Toro Rosso STR11. His fastest lap (1'40"654) was 2"527 seconds away from the lead.

Asphalt was green, something logical for a semi urban track as Sochi, but conditions improved throughout the session. The surface was not too harsh on tyres and Carlos used the soft compound during all the session but his installation lap, in which he ran on a set of mediums. It will not be the tyre he will use tomorrow in Qualifying, that role will be played by the supersofts, which the team will test later in the day today.

This morning, with an air temperature of 15ºC and the track at 30ºC, Carlos went through the scheduled program without any reliability issues. His team mate Max Verstappen completed the work with the 15th position.

Second Free Practice session for the Russian Grand Prix will begin today at 13:00, Spanish time.