2020 Australian Grand Prix - Preview

WHY WE’VE CHOSEN THE TYRES  

• For the first time since Pirelli re-entered Formula 1 in 2011, we start the season with exactly the same tyres as the previous year. And just like 2019, C2 has been chosen as the P Zero White hard tyre in Melbourne, C3 as the P Zero Yellow medium, and C4 as the P Zero Red soft.
• This selection worked very well last year, which is why we've chosen them again. The middle of the P Zero range is well-suited to the wide-ranging demands of Melbourne, and all three compounds were used in the race.
• The Albert Park circuit is a semi-permanent facility, which means that it’s often very dirty at the start of the weekend. This selection of tyres copes well with the rapid track evolution, giving drivers plenty of options when it comes to strategy.

TRACK CHARACTERISTICS  

• Albert Park is mainly about traction and braking, with short corners and straights apart from the long and more demanding Turn 8 by the lake.
• The track is quite bumpy, which emphasizes the lack of grip.
• Weather can be varied and the unforgiving confines mean that a safety car is reasonably likely. The correlation between pole position and victory is quite low.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“Tyre-wise, the drivers should be well-prepared for Melbourne, as they have exactly the same selection as last year, so there should be plenty of relevant data. Perhaps the only question mark concerns how these tyres perform on the 2020 cars, which have already proved to be a lot faster than their predecessors, but plenty of information about this was gathered at pre-season testing in Barcelona last month. In the recent past, Australia has been a one-stop race for most drivers, and for now there’s no reason to think why it should be different this year, which marks the start to the end of an era: the final season of 13-inch tyres in Formula 1.”

OTHER PIRELLI NEWS

• Pirelli’s 18-inch tyres for Formula 2 cars took to the track in Bahrain, which will already race on this size of tyre in 2020. Hitech driver Luca Ghiotto emerged on top from the three-day test, with F2 scheduled to host its first round in Bahrain at the end of this month as part of the country’s grand prix.
• Formula 3, which will continue to race on 13-inch Pirelli tyres, also tested in Bahrain. Among the new intake of drivers for this year is 19-year-old German Sophia Floersch: the first female to race in the championship. Her team mate Alexander Peroni was fastest in the test.
• Pirelli’s Junior WRC campaign got underway last month on Rally Sweden, with local man Tom Kristensson winning the event and topping the standings. Next year, Pirelli embarks on a three-year agreement as exclusive tyre partner to the World Rally Championship alongside its Formula 1 commitments.