Finally the waiting is over, with the teams getting to sample Pirelli's new 2013-specification compounds for the first time in competition during the opening two free practice sessions in Melbourne. The P Zero White medium and P Zero Red supersoft tyres are nominated this weekend, with all the compounds softer and faster than their 2012 equivalents. The fastest times in the first and second free practice sessions comfortably exceeded the benchmarks established last year, underlining the significant steps forward made with the latest P Zero tyres. Ambient temperatures peaked at 28 degrees centigrade (during the first session) with Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel setting fastest time of the day towards the end of free practice two on the supersoft compound.

Paul Hembery: "The teams were able to try out our tyres within their proper working range for the first time, so as usual they made the most of the opportunity to assess the behaviour of their cars in representative conditions on different fuel loads. The medium tyre showed plenty of consistency, just as we expected, while the drivers also benefited from the rapid warm-up of the supersoft. With Albert Park not being a permanent facility, the track started off 'green' but lap times rapidly improved as more rubber was laid down. From what we can see of the degradation so far, we'd expect the majority of the teams to stop twice during the race, with some of the faster cars maybe trying three stops. As anticipated, we saw a performance gap of around a second between the two compounds here, which leaves the door open for plenty of strategy."

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