MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“We completed two days of testing with the 2020 tyres in temperatures that were more typical of the Formula 1 season. The most important part was giving teams the opportunity to run the 2020 tyres back-to-back with the current 2019 tyres, to see how they compared. Although each team’s test programme was – as usual – individual, the drivers now have a good subjective impression and the next task is to correlate this with the objective data gathered. During the first day, we tended to see shorter runs, with teams concentrating on longer runs during day two. We've noted some improvements, especially with the softest C5 tyre, but that’s not always been matched by the tyres with compounds in the middle of the range. To get the complete picture, we’ll of course analyse all the data in precise detail over the next days, especially the long run data, which is particularly pertinent. Considering the predicted evolution of the cars for next season, we still believe that the 2020 tyre construction remains the best solution, but we are of course open to continue working with the 2019 tyres if this is what the majority of teams desire.”

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won the final race of the season with a one-stop medium-hard strategy, just like Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in second. However, the third-placed Ferrari of Charles Leclerc adopted a different strategy, adding a final soft stint to his medium-hard run plan, to take advantage of the red tyre’s extra speed in the crucial closing stages of the race.

KEY MOMENTS

• Hamilton won from pole without losing the lead and was never troubled throughout the 55 laps. However, there was a close fight for the final two podium places behind him. The Englishman completed an impressive grand slam: pole, win, and fastest lap.
• Ferrari chose to pit both of their cars twice, which were running different strategies from each other. On each occasion, the cars were double stacked in the pit lane, and both used all three available tyres – hard, medium and soft – albeit in a different order.
• Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas finished fourth after starting last due to a grid penalty, running a long initial stint on medium before switching to hard for the final stint. He ended up less than a second off the podium.
• The longest stint was completed by Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly, who switched onto the hard tyre following contact on lap one, and then ran it all the way to the finish: a total of 52 laps (as he finished two laps down).
• A total of five different pit stop strategies were seen in the top 10.
• The race lap record that had stood since 2009 was finally broken courtesy of Hamilton, who set the fastest lap of the race on the hard, with just two laps to go.

HOW EACH TYRE PERFORMED

• HARD C3: Used by all the drivers who stopped just once apart from Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg, who was classified 12^th in his last F1 race for now.
• MEDIUM C4: The most popular compound to start the race on, thanks to its excellent compromise between durability and performance in the falling temperatures of Abu Dhabi.
• SOFT C5: The softest compound in the range coped well with the demands of this track, regularly completing in excess of 10 laps even on full fuel at the start of the race.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“From a tyre point of view, with the three softest compounds in our range, we are satisfied with the overall performance here. We saw some long stints and low degradation, but also plenty of tactical variation and raw speed, with the decade-old race lap record finally broken on quite old hard tyres. This underlines the constant increase in performance we have seen in Formula 1 this year, which we have to bear in mind for the future. So now our focus turns to testing for 2020 and beyond as we remain at Yas Marina. On Tuesday and Wednesday all the teams will try out a range of 2020 tyres, with the opportunity to compare them to the current 2019 tyres. After that, we’ll also be testing the 18-inch tyre for 2021 in the last of our private tests this year. Congratulations to Hamilton and Mercedes, not just for this emphatic race win but also for claiming both championships.”

POSSIBLE RACE STRATEGIES

The optimal strategy for the 55-lap Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is a one-stopper, but there are several interesting variations on this theme as the pit stop window is quite wide.

There are two one-stop strategies that work almost equally well: soft for seven to 14 laps, combined with hard for 41 to 48 laps. Alternatively, medium for 10 to 18 laps, combined with hard for 37 to 45 laps.

It’s then going to be down to the individual race circumstances for each driver to decide when is the best time to stop.

What’s slower is a one-stopper using the soft for 18 to 22 laps followed by the medium for 33 to 37 laps. That requires a bit too much pace management (to keep the soft alive) to be consistently fast, so expect the hard to be a key ingredient for any one-stopper.

A two-stopper is about as fast on paper, but it’s not going to be a favoured tactic due to the problem of getting through traffic on a track where it’s not particularly easy to overtake. But if anyone wanted to try it, the best way would be to do two soft stints for seven to 10 laps each, plus a hard stint of 35 to 41 laps. In the end, a two-stopper using any combination of the tyres available would theoretically result in a broadly similar overall race time, if the stops are made at the right moment.

KEEP AN EYE ON

• Falling temperatures. Track temperatures fall dramatically during the race as evening sets in: this has the effect of extending the second stint.
• A wide pit stop window. There are many options when it comes to the timing of the pit stops, meaning that drivers can come in when it suits them best to gain an advantage. Expect the stops to be quite spread out tomorrow.
• Traffic. It’s not easy to overtake at the Yas Marina circuit, so traffic could have a big effect on the strategy and race outcome.
• Valtteri Bottas. Unusually, a Mercedes starts at the back of the grid following a penalty for Bottas. He has one of the fastest cars out there, also with a new engine, so watch his progress.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“With a wide pit stop window, tomorrow is set to be a tactical race and the strategy has already begun with the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel taking a different approach to the other frontrunners by opting for the soft tyre in Q2. The medium runners should be able to go for a longer first stint, but the soft runners – making up the majority of the top 10 on the grid – should be quicker at the start. Under race conditions, the performance gap between medium and soft should be something in the region of half a second per lap. This provides an interesting mix, so it should ultimately come down to strategy to make the difference.”

POSSIBLE RACE STRATEGIES

The optimal strategy for the 55-lap Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is a one-stopper, but there are several interesting variations on this theme as the pit stop window is quite wide.

There are two one-stop strategies that work almost equally well: soft for seven to 14 laps, combined with hard for 41 to 48 laps. Alternatively, medium for 10 to 18 laps, combined with hard for 37 to 45 laps.

It’s then going to be down to the individual race circumstances for each driver to decide when is the best time to stop.

What’s slower is a one-stopper using the soft for 18 to 22 laps followed by the medium for 33 to 37 laps. That requires a bit too much pace management (to keep the soft alive) to be consistently fast, so expect the hard to be a key ingredient for any one-stopper.

A two-stopper is about as fast on paper, but it’s not going to be a favoured tactic due to the problem of getting through traffic on a track where it’s not particularly easy to overtake. But if anyone wanted to try it, the best way would be to do two soft stints for seven to 10 laps each, plus a hard stint of 35 to 41 laps. In the end, a two-stopper using any combination of the tyres available would theoretically result in a broadly similar overall race time, if the stops are made at the right moment.

KEEP AN EYE ON

• Falling temperatures. Track temperatures fall dramatically during the race as evening sets in: this has the effect of extending the second stint.
• A wide pit stop window. There are many options when it comes to the timing of the pit stops, meaning that drivers can come in when it suits them best to gain an advantage. Expect the stops to be quite spread out tomorrow.
• Traffic. It’s not easy to overtake at the Yas Marina circuit, so traffic could have a big effect on the strategy and race outcome.
• Valtteri Bottas. Unusually, a Mercedes starts at the back of the grid following a penalty for Bottas. He has one of the fastest cars out there, also with a new engine, so watch his progress.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“With a wide pit stop window, tomorrow is set to be a tactical race and the strategy has already begun with the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel taking a different approach to the other frontrunners by opting for the soft tyre in Q2. The medium runners should be able to go for a longer first stint, but the soft runners – making up the majority of the top 10 on the grid – should be quicker at the start. Under race conditions, the performance gap between medium and soft should be something in the region of half a second per lap. This provides an interesting mix, so it should ultimately come down to strategy to make the difference.”

WHAT WE LEARNED FROM FP1 AND FP2

• Both practice sessions ran largely as expected, despite a couple of interruptions in the morning and another red flag in the afternoon that disrupted the long runs. The FP2 session was the most relevant, with falling track temperatures as afternoon gave way to night, just like qualifying and the race.
• Valtteri Bottas led a Mercedes one-two in FP2, with his fastest time on the soft tyre nearly a second faster than the equivalent time last year (set on the 2018 hypersoft).
• Most of the running in free practice was on the Yellow medium and Red soft compounds, with fewer laps on the White hard.
• Conditions remained dry and warm throughout the day, with representative race conditions throughout FP2, in the region of 25 degrees centigrade ambient and 28 degrees on track.
• As expected, wear and degradation was generally quite low throughout FP2, pointing at a one-stop race on Sunday.
• The current performance gap between the medium and the soft tyre is around a second, with a similar gap between medium and hard.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“No real surprises from either of the free practice sessions from our point of view, apart from the fact that the performance gaps between all the compounds is a little bit bigger than expected for now, and the red flag interrupted the long FP2 runs at a crucial moment. Given that FP3 tomorrow will be run in warm daytime conditions, analysing tonight’s data carefully will be particularly important as the teams work out their qualifying strategy: whether to approach Q2 with the medium tyre – which could be a valid tactic – or instead the soft tyre, if they believe it will last well enough throughout the opening race stint. The hard could equally play a pivotal role on race day for those who start on the soft, with a considerable number of teams trying it during FP2. This evening resulted in best lap times that are around a second faster than they were in the same session at Yas Marina last year: a sure sign that Formula 1 continues to evolve and become constantly quicker, so we need to ensure tyres that match this progress.”

TRACK CHARACTERISTICS

• Yas Marina is almost exactly average for the season when it comes to severity, with smooth asphalt and a well-balanced mix of corners that is more about traction and braking than lateral forces.
• Historically, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix has been a one-stopper, with low wear and degradation. This looks set to be the case again this year, with the hardest choice a step harder than in 2018 (when supersoft, ultrasoft, and hypersoft were chosen). Last year, Lewis Hamilton won the race by going from ultrasoft to supersoft quite early, under a virtual safety car.
• There’s been a harder tyre choice made compared to previous seasons at a few races this year: this is to help drivers to push to the maximum during each stint, rather than manage their pace to guarantee a one-stopper.
• With the race going through until the evening, track temperatures tend to fall quite drastically as the race progresses. As the car gets lighter on fuel, this can alter the pattern of tyre behaviour to potentially increase stint lengths. It also means that the FP1 and FP3 sessions aren’t particularly representative.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“Abu Dhabi marks the end of another very long season, but the work still continues for us after the grand prix, with a series of tests for both Formula 1 and Formula 2, using 13-inch tyres as well as 18-inch tyres. In total, we’ll bringing around 4500 tyres to Abu Dhabi, for racing and testing: more than double the usual quantity. The two-day official F1 test after the race will be particularly important, as it gives a chance for the teams to compare 2019 to 2020 tyres in representative conditions and with specifically adapted cars for the first time. Before then, we have one final grand prix to complete. There’s a strong chance that we could see more lap records broken again over the weekend, with the teams now having maximised their knowledge of the 2019 tyres.”

OTHER PIRELLI NEWS

• Immediately after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Pirelli will embark on one of its busiest testing programmes ever. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the teams get the chance to test the 13-inch tyres for next year alongside the current tyres. This test will be followed by a three-day official Formula 2 test and then the final 18-inch development test of the year for Formula 1 (with Mercedes) and Formula 2.
• All the F1 teams will get the chance to test 20 sets of tyres each during the official two-day test on Tuesday and Wednesday after the race, encouraging them to run back to back assessments between the 2019 tyres and their 2020 equivalents. Pirelli will select 12 of those sets on behalf of the teams (including some C3 and C4 sets from both 2019 and 2020, for comparative purposes) with the teams themselves choosing the rest.
• Formula 2 returns to action for the final round after a two-month break. The title has already been claimed by Nyck de Vries – but the final podium positions are still up for grabs.
• Pirelli enjoyed a successful return to the headlining Formula 3 category at the Macau Grand Prix, with rookie Richard Verschoor from Holland claiming the win from Estonian Juri Vips, after the very first race run in Macau with the current FIA F3 cars on P Zero tyres. Italy’s Raffaelle Marciello won the FIA GT World Cup for Mercedes on the P Zero DHD2, having started from pole.
• Abu Dhabi marks the final F1 Pirelli Hot Laps event of the year.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won a dramatic safety car affected race with three pit stops, having started from pole. He made his final stop under the penultimate safety car, sacrificing his lead to Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton. However, at the re-start the Dutchman got back ahead to claim his third win of the year, ahead of Pierre Gasly’s Toro Rosso. As expected, race day conditions in Sao Paulo were much hotter than previous days, with track temperatures more than 20 degrees warmer than they had been during free practice on Friday.

KEY MOMENTS

• Verstappen was one of only two points-scoring drivers to make three pit stops, gambling on one more stop during the penultimate safety car.
• There were three completely different strategies in the top four, with a wide variety of tactics all the way down the field. While Verstappen and Hamilton made three stops, McLaren’s Carlos Sainz was fourth at the flag (before any stewards’ decisions) with one stop from last on the grid, and Gasly finished runner-up with two stops.
• The two safety cars at the end of the grand prix turned it into a race of opportunism, with several dramatic incidents occurring as cars tried to take advantage of the changing situation.
• Before then, a soft-medium-soft strategy had been favoured by most of the frontrunners, which offered both speed and flexibility in the warm conditions.
• With the higher temperatures today, degradation was slightly increased for some drivers and all three compounds were used during the race, but there were still some long initial stints seen on the soft compound.

HOW EACH TYRE PERFORMED

• HARD C1: Working well in the higher temperatures, this was used by Mercedes and Ferrari in the race with Valtteri Bottas and Charles Leclerc respectively.
• MEDIUM C2: A key component in the middle stint for most drivers, while Sainz completed a 42-lap final stint on it to reach the finish in fourth place.
• SOFT C3: The two safety cars at the end meant that several drivers took the chance to put this on for a final sprint to the finish, especially Hamilton who went for it during the last safety car period, with only two racing laps remaining.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“Today will go down as one of the really dramatic races of Formula 1 history, with almost unbelievable action all the way to the finish line. The two safety car periods at the end of the race completely changed the complexion of the strategy, which up to that point had seemed to favour a two-stop race, in the notably higher temperatures that we experienced on race day compared to previous days. These also brought the most durable hard compound into play. However, Carlos Sainz proved that a one-stopper was still possible, and there were many other drivers who made the most of this very unpredictable race to choose different calls on tyre strategy that paid off. Congratulations to Pierre Gasly and Toro Rosso for a well-deserved second place, and to Honda for putting two of their cars on the podium.”

POSSIBLE RACE STRATEGIES

The fastest strategy on paper for the 71-lap Brazilian Grand Prix is a one-stopper, using the red soft tyre for 26 to 29 laps and the white hard for 42 to 45 laps.
The second-quickest way is to run the red soft for 34 to 37 laps, and the yellow medium for another 34 to 37 laps. About as fast as this is actually a two-stopper: with two stints on the soft of 18 to 21 laps each, plus a medium run for 29 to 35 laps. These stints could all be done in any order, with a soft-medium-soft plan potentially making sense as a two-stopper, for example.
The reason for this is that with much warmer conditions expected on Sunday compared to Friday, the hardest compound as well as a possible two-stopper all become much more interesting.
What’s slightly slower is a one-stopper with the medium for 24 to 27 laps, and the hard for 44 to 47 laps.

KEEP AN EYE ON

• Higher temperatures. The weather tomorrow is expected to be warmer again, which could further affect tyre behaviour and therefore race strategy.
• Traffic. The short lap at Interlagos means that getting through traffic will soon become an issue for the frontrunners, again affecting the timing of the stops.
• Safety cars. Interlagos has little run off area, with both free practice sessions yesterday stopped by red flags. This might influence pit stop strategy.
• Leclerc. In Q2, he was faster on mediums than most soft tyre runners. Tomorrow he has to fight his way up the order, but he clearly has the pace.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“As expected, track temperatures were warmer today, well above 30 degrees centigrade for the first time so far this weekend, which meant that the track offered a bit more grip. This increase in temperature is expected to continue tomorrow, which means that we could see some variations in strategy. With three different teams in the top three of the grid, we’re set for some close competition, so even a small change could make a difference. The front of the grid all start on the soft tyre, which means that it’s a level playing field for the first stint at least: whoever makes the most of it could gain an important advantage.”

WHAT WE LEARNED FROM FP1 AND FP2

• Rain this morning that meant FP1 was declared a wet session. The FP2 session in the afternoon was dry but cool, with ambient temperatures of around 20 degrees centigrade.
• Red Bull’s Alexander Albon was fastest this morning on the intermediate tyres, with the track drying up in the closing minutes of FP1 to enable some limited slick tyre running. However, there were still some damp patches.
• In FP2, the teams sampled all three of the slick tyres available, with Sebastian Vettel leading a Ferrari one-two on the soft tyre.
• The remainder of the weekend is expected to be dry, meaning that only the data from FP2 is really relevant. Both practice sessions today ended under a red flag.
• Low tyre degradation was seen in FP2, pointing at a one-stopper on Sunday.
• On the short Interlagos circuit, the performance gap between the soft and the medium is around 0.5 seconds up to now, while the gap between the medium and the hard is a bit bigger: around one second (although data on the hard tyre is in relatively short supply).

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“The wet morning session was useful to have a look at crossover points between wets and inters and slicks, while we then got some good dry running in the afternoon. There is a short and intense lap here, which means that the gaps are always close. We experienced cool conditions throughout the day, with ambient temperatures of 20 degrees centigrade and track temperatures struggling to get past 23 degrees. These conditions clearly affect tyre behaviour. Nonetheless, the tyres seem to be working very well so far, with no graining despite the cool weather. In any case, temperatures are expected to get warmer for the rest of the weekend, which could alter the picture of tyre behaviour when it comes to performance gaps and degradation, opening up the door to some different strategies.”

TRACK CHARACTERISTICS

• In 2018, the medium, soft and supersoft tyres were nominated. Despite a tyre nomination that is slower on paper this year, we’re likely to see faster lap times – as has already been the case at several races this year – thanks to the continual evolution of the cars.
• The harder tyre choice for this year in Brazil is designed to limit degradation, and so help drivers to push more during each stint.
• The weather characteristics of Interlagos are among the most random of the year. In the past, we’ve seen some of the hottest track temperatures of the season, well in excess of 55 degrees centigrade – and also torrential rain.
• The asphalt was entirely resurfaced in 2014 and it’s now had plenty of time to mature: it was also cleaned thoroughly with high pressure water jets last year. As a result, it’s about average when it comes to roughness and presents no particular challenges in terms of the actual surface.
• Interlagos contains 15 corners within the second- shortest lap of the year, which means that there aren’t many long corners, keeping the lateral demands quite low. The front-right tyre is worked the hardest on this anti-clockwise track.
• A one-stopper was the winning strategy last year, with Lewis Hamilton going from supersoft to medium. But there was lots of variation, with three different tactical approaches from the three leading teams and five different strategies in the top six.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“Interlagos is nearly always an exciting grand prix, where there’s plenty going on: the compact track means that there’s generally quite a lot of overtaking, with drivers also having to go frequently off the racing line. It’s corner after corner, which keeps the tyres busy, and it’s an old school track with not much run off, so mistakes are generally punished. Add in the variable weather and probability of safety cars as well, and this tends to make for an unpredictable weekend. You have to be prepared for everything: we don’t know for sure yet which conditions we’ll be facing, but our choice of the hardest tyres means that the teams will be able to push hard even if they are running – as is likely – a one-stop strategy.”

OTHER PIRELLI NEWS

• During the same weekend as the Brazilian Grand Prix, Pirelli prepares for one of its most important-ever engagements at Macau: supplying not only the FIA GT World Cup but also the new-look Formula 3, which comes to Macau for the first time for the World Cup, featuring many of the regular F3 drivers who compete in the championship that supports Formula 1.
• Testing with 18-inch tyres continues both for Formula 1 and Formula 2. McLaren tested the 2021 18-inch prototypes for two days at Paul Ricard in France last week, completing 145 laps with both race drivers, while Formula 2’s 18-inch test campaign for next year continues this week in Spain.
• Brazil hosted a special F1 Fan Festival in Sao Paulo last weekend, honouring Ayrton Senna – who died in May 25 years ago. Fans will be able to see some special cars from Senna’s history, including the 1984 Toleman (originally on Pirelli tyres) that Senna started his Formula 1 career in.

Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas won the United States Grand Prix with a two-stopper, while his team mate Lewis Hamilton claimed his sixth title after finishing in second place with a one-stopper. As has often been the case at the Circuit of the Americas, there was a wide variety of strategies seen all the way down the field today, with a tense tactical battle between the top three that came down to the final few laps.

KEY MOMENTS

• Bottas started from pole but slipped behind his team mate after making an extra pit stop. The Finn subsequently took advantage of his fresher tyres to claim the lead close to the end of the race.
• Hamilton was one of five drivers in the top 10 of the grid to start on the medium tyre, but he completed a longer opening stint than his rivals before switching to the hard for a one-stopper, which required perfect tyre management.
• Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was locked in a tactical battle with Bottas for most of the race on a similar medium-hard-medium two-stop strategy, but he could not get past Hamilton at the finish and ended up third.
• Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who finished fourth, adopted a different two-stop strategy, using all three nominated compounds. During his final stint on the soft, he gained the extra point for fastest race lap.
• Behind him, Red Bull’s Alex Albon finished fifth, having been last after his early pit stop on lap one following some contact. He completed a three-stopper in the end: the only driver to do so.
• In total, there were five different strategies in the top six: underlining the multiplicity of approaches in evidence at the United States Grand Prix.
• Weather conditions for the race were similarly warm to yesterday, which had an effect on tyre behaviour by favouring the harder compounds.

HOW EACH TYRE PERFORMED

• HARD C2: The key to the race, which was used by every driver apart from Red Bull’s Alex Albon. Hamilton completed an impressive 32-lap final stint on this compound as he tried to win the race with a one-stopper.
• MEDIUM C3: Only four drivers didn’t run this compound at some point during the grand prix. It was also used by the top five drivers on the grid to start the race.
• SOFT C4: Used by a number of drivers at the end of the race for a final sprint with light fuel, including Leclerc, who finished just off the podium and set fastest lap.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“The final few laps in particular were extremely tense, as we all waited to see if Lewis Hamilton could make a one-stopper work to win the race, against drivers on much fresher tyres behind him. He didn’t quite make it to the top step of the podium but it was still a spectacular fight where strategy was all-important, so big congratulations to Lewis for a very well-deserved sixth title after a thrilling grand prix. Congratulations of course to Valtteri as well for winning the race with a completely different strategy. In the end, the relatively warm conditions, after a very cool start to the weekend, meant that it was a close call between one and two stops using the harder compounds: with two of the three podium finishers eventually opting for a two-stopper. However, we witnessed a wide variety of strategies all the way down the grid with close competition from start to finish, which is exactly what we all want to see.”

POSSIBLE RACE STRATEGIES

The strategies all look very close for the 56-lap United States Grand Prix. Fastest is a one-stopper, using the soft for 22 to 25 laps and the medium for 31 to 34 laps. Second fastest is another one-stopper, using the medium for 24 to 27 laps and the hard for 29 to 32 laps. Finally, using the soft for 19 to 22 laps and the hard for 34 to 37 laps constitutes the third-fastest strategy. But there’s really very little to choose between any of them, so we could see a lot of different tactics in play tomorrow.
There’s also a viable two-stopper, which is also competitive. It goes like this: use two sets of soft for 15 to 18 laps, then medium for 20 to 26 laps.
All four strategies detailed here could work well at the Circuit of the Americas, depending of course on the degradation rate of the soft tyre in particular. This will be influenced by weather and track conditions on race day: we saw at the last grand prix in Mexico the sort of difference that these can make.

KEEP AN EYE ON

• Pit stops. There could be a very wide range of pit stop tactics seen, as was the case at the Circuit of the Americas last year. We’ll probably see both one and two pit stops, depending on race day track conditions.
• Weather. While still quite cool, conditions were considerably warmer than they were yesterday, and this trend is expected to continue tomorrow as well.
• McLaren. The team has been fast all weekend, with Lando Norris sealing P3 in FP3 this morning, P1 in Q1, and both cars starting in the top 10.
• Red soft tyres. This is theoretically around a second per lap faster than the medium, but the top five on the grid (both Mercedes and Ferraris, plus the Red Bull of Max Verstappen) will start on the medium, with those immediately behind them starting on the soft. In race conditions, this performance gap between the two compounds is expected to come down significantly.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“Unusually, conditions in qualifying are unlikely to be completely representative of the race, as the grand prix takes place three hours earlier. Today’s warmer conditions suited the tyre range better: the result being a new track record. With more rubber being laid down, we also saw a high degree of track evolution. The tactical battle has already begun with Mercedes, Ferrari and the Red Bull of Max Verstappen choosing to start the race on the medium tyre, ahead of those on the faster soft, which should make the first few laps interesting tomorrow. Theoretically, the quickest race strategy is a one-stop using soft and medium, but there’s really not much in it. Finally, it was a huge honour for us to have Mario Andretti present the pole award here in America today: a genuine legend of our sport.”

WHAT WE LEARNED FROM FP1 AND FP2

• Conditions were incredibly cold for the first day of free practice in Austin. First thing in the morning, ambient temperatures were barely above freezing – just one degree centigrade – before warming up to temperatures that peaked at around 15 degrees centigrade in FP1 and 19 degrees centigrade in FP2.
• Drivers had at their disposal two sets of unmarked 2020 C4 soft compound tyres, to use during today only. Most drivers used these tyres in FP1, with slightly less running of these tyres seen in FP2, as teams concentrated on race preparation.
• Despite the very cold conditions, similar to Barcelona pre-season testing, the lap times were comparable to the dry sessions last year. There were only a few cases of light graining seen, on both the current and 2020 compounds.
• There was a high degree of track evolution in evidence, with the lap times at the end of the session in the afternoon considerably faster than those of the morning.
• Degradation on the soft tyre also seems to require some pace management so far.
• The weather is expected to warm up slightly over the course of the weekend, but not significantly: it will still be a cool weekend, so teams have to adapt to this,
• The weather conditions and track evolution made it hard to get a sensible read on the performance difference between the compounds. However, so far we see around one second between soft and medium (a bit more than we expected), and roughly the same between medium and hard (in line with our expectations). There’s not so much data on the hard though, so this gap is hard to calculate accurately.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“The very low temperatures seen so far this week have come as quite a shock to many people, and of course they have an effect on tyre performance. It’s in some ways a pity as we had hoped to give the drivers their first taste of the 2020 tyres in more representative weather, but obviously there’s not much that we can do about it. On the positive side, there were only a few cases of light graining seen even in these extreme conditions – on the 2020 tyres and the current tyres – and the teams were still able to take away some useful information, on both new and used 2020 tyres, sometimes by doing back to back comparisons with the existing product. The relevance of this data is obviously compromised by the fact that it's a 2020 tyre on a 2019 car, which hasn’t been optimised for this specification of tyre, but at least it allows the teams to gather some information in view of the final test of the year at Abu Dhabi. Apart from that, today consisted in carrying out the usual preparation work for qualifying and the race with different fuel loads, and in particular adapting the cars to these cold conditions. We experienced a very high degree of track evolution throughout the day that clearly influenced the lap times, but overall I’m actually quite surprised by how well the cars and tyres performed today in conditions that they really weren’t designed for.”

TRACK CHARACTERISTICS

• Drivers will have a chance of sample the 2020 tyres on Friday in Austin, to next year’s specification that was defined following a number of dedicated tests, with the final one held in Barcelona earlier this month involving the top three teams. Each driver will get two sets of the 2020 soft compound tyres, for use during FP1 and FP2 only.
• The hardest tyre nominated for the United States Grand Prix is a step harder than it was in 2018 (when the soft, supersoft and ultrasoft tyres were chosen). These should help to ensure a more evenly spaced performance gap between the three compounds.
• An ultrasoft-soft one-stopper was the winning strategy last year, courtesy of Kimi Raikkonen for Ferrari. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was second (from 18^th on the grid) with a soft-supersoft strategy, while Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton was third with a two-stopper.
• There’s quite a variety of corners at the anti-clockwise Circuit of the Americas, with the uphill hairpin of Turn 1 standing out as Austin’s signature corner.
• Wear and degradation is about average for all the circuits used during the season, making the three tyres from the middle of the range a particularly appropriate choice. Both the race and overall lap records date from last year set by Lewis Hamilton.
• The weather in Texas can be extremely variable at this time of year, ranging from bright sunshine to typhoon-like conditions that have cancelled entire sessions in the past.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“Austin has always been renowned for putting on a great show, both on and off the track. This year, it is particularly significant, as it is where the teams will get to sample next year’s tyres for the first time, during free practice on Friday. This of course is just an initial taste of the 2020 C4 soft compound, before teams get to test the full homologated range of next year’s tyres at the two-day test in December following the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, as usual. Austin contains a bit of everything in terms of different types of corner, with quite representative asphalt as well, so it should be a good place to try out these new tyres for the first time”.

OTHER PIRELLI NEWS

• Both the Mercedes and Ferrari team mates have made slightly different choices from each other for the United States Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel have opted for an identical selection, but their team mates vary. Both Red Bull drivers have made the same choice.
• The 2020 Formula 2 testing programme with 18-inch tyres continued in France the week before the United States Grand Prix, with 207 laps completed in wet conditions. From November 7-8, the second 18-inch Formula 1 tyre development test will take place at Circuit Paul Ricard, with McLaren on track.
• After Mexico, the Formula 1 Pirelli Hot Laps programme returns at the Circuit of the Americas, with Lamborghini joining Aston Martin, McLaren and Mercedes.
• Pirelli will also be present at the forthcoming Los Angeles F1 Festival, which takes place in the Hollywood area from October 29-30.

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won the Mexican Grand Prix from the second row of the grid, using a one-stop medium-hard strategy. This tactic, used by the top three, was predicted to be possible but tricky in the demanding conditions of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. The higher temperatures on race day, compared to the rest of the weekend, helped to make this practicable due to reduced graining.

KEY MOMENTS

• Hamilton was among the first drivers to stop from the medium tyre and switch to the hard. Nonetheless, he was able to manage the hard tyre perfectly over the 48 laps of his final stint to claim the race win.
• He wasn’t the only driver to complete a long stint on this tyre. Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo was the only driver to start the race on the hard tyre, and he completed 50 laps on this compound before switching to the medium and finishing eighth.
• Red Bull’s Max Verstappen went even further: he did 66 laps on the hard tyre following an early pit stop after a puncture caused by contact on his starting set of mediums. He finished sixth, having been last in the early stages of the race.
• Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was the highest-placed driver to use a two-stop strategy, adopting the medium-medium-hard tactic that was predicted as theoretically fastest. He led the race but finished fourth, having also been slightly delayed in the pits.
• In total, only seven drivers went for a two-stop strategy: including those who started on the soft tyre.
• Weather conditions were much warmer than they had been on previous days, which were affected by rain. Peak track temperature was 49 degrees centigrade, while ambient temperatures were higher as well.

HOW EACH TYRE PERFORMED

• HARD C2: This was key to the race, with many drivers completing long stints on this compound, which proved to be well-suited to the race day conditions with low degradation.
• MEDIUM C3: The most popular choice to start the grand prix, with all but five drivers selecting it for the first stint.
• SOFT C4: Used very little during the race: only by four drivers in the top 10 of the grid who were obliged to use it for the first stint.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“There were a number of different strategies at work during the race, with drivers also reacting to what the others were doing. The one-stopper was helped to be made possible by track temperatures that were warmer than previous days and no more rain, meaning that there was less sliding and reduced graining, which tipped the balance back towards one or two stops, rather than two or more. The hard tyre was the crucial one for the race and we saw some very long stints run on this compound. Lewis Hamilton in particular made the very most of it in order to seal another win, despite not being on the front row of the grid, on a track where overtaking is always quite tricky.”

POSSIBLE RACE STRATEGIES

This is actually one of the hardest strategies of the year to call, due to the multiplicity of tactical options as well as the particular weather conditions this weekend.

A two-stopper would appear to be the optimal approach on paper, and as no driver has more than one set of White hard tyres available, the best way would be to start on the Yellow medium for 20 to 23 laps, then do an identical medium stint for another 20 to 23 laps, before finishing on the hard.

The second-fastest way is another two-stopper, but this time starting on the Red soft for nine to 13 laps, before going onto the medium for 22 to 26 laps and then a final hard stint to the end.

The slowest approach would be a one-stopper, but it’s a big ask to run such long stints here. The best way to attempt it would be medium for 26 to 30 laps, then hard to the end.

None of these strategies are set in stone though, and any permutation of the above strategies is possible, using the compounds in any order. A three-stopper could also turn out to be just as quick as a two-stopper, using any of the three compounds available, although there’s always the certainty of dealing with traffic. It’s all going to come down to what the track conditions turn out to be like on race day.

KEEP AN EYE ON

• Strategy. With high degradation likely on the soft, the medium tyre was the one to take in Q2, in order to run the first stint on this during the race. Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull have locked out the top six on the medium tyre, McLaren and Toro Rosso round out the top 10 on the soft.
• Weather. Track temperatures will be influenced hugely by the weather. Conditions warmed up slightly for qualifying, with track temperatures around 41 degrees centigrade, but conditions for the race are still uncertain.
• Pit stops. Two pit stops are to be expected, but three pit stops are a distinct possibility as well: especially for those using the soft tyre.
• Toro Rosso. The team has been consistently in the top 10 throughout the weekend and starts with two cars at the sharp end of the grid tomorrow.
• Wear and degradation. Managing this will be key to the race, especially if conditions are cool and the cars are sliding, which can cause graining.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“Track conditions have been very difficult all weekend, with cool temperatures and the cars sliding quite a lot. We had more overnight rain, which reset the track for FP3, which was run mostly on intermediate tyres. As a result, we saw a lot of track evolution during qualifying, with the fastest times coming at the very end of each session. Under these circumstances, it was no real surprise to see the top three teams opt to start the race on the medium tyre, which should allow for a longer and more consistent opening stint. But despite the complex driving conditions and a tyre nomination that was a step harder than last year, Verstappen’s lap time on his final Q3 run was actually faster than the overall track record set last year by the smallest possible fraction: a sign of just how close the margins are around this circuit”.

WHAT WE LEARNED FROM FP1 AND FP2

• Although conditions were cool and slippery all day following some overnight rain (with track temperatures never exceeding 39 degrees centigrade) Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel’s fastest FP2 lap on the soft C4 compound was slightly quicker than last year’s equivalent. This was despite a tyre selection that was harder than last year (when hypersoft was the softest nominated tyre).
• The overnight rain meant that many drivers started FP1 on the intermediate tyre, in even cooler conditions. This was also to take advantage of the regulations, which allow an extra set of tyres if Friday practice is declared wet and a set of intermediates is used. The cold and slippery track meant that there was a bit of graining in the morning, which was reduced during the afternoon with more rubber on the track.
• Both sessions were interrupted by quite lengthy red flag periods, which meant that teams couldn’t quite get the full three hours of free practice allocated for Friday.
• Similar weather conditions are expected tomorrow, with some possible overnight rain in store, which could wash away the rubber laid down today.
• As expected, the high altitude in Mexico affected grip as well, as in the thin air the cars generate less downforce.
• Up to now, the performance difference between the medium and the soft is around 0.9 seconds, with 0.6 seconds between medium and hard (but the data for the medium-hard comparison is less representative).

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“The gaps seem to be reasonably close between the top cars on the same tyre, accentuated by the relatively short lap length and the fact that the running has been interrupted today. This meant that nobody really had the chance to find any particular advantage. With more rain possibly expected tonight, the grip might not significantly improve tomorrow. The graining we saw this morning was no real surprise given the cool and damp conditions combined with the lack of aerodynamic grip, which meant that the cars were sliding more than usual. Despite this, the actual lap times were comparable to last year – and with a harder tyre selection. There’s clearly some degradation on the soft at the moment in particular, but a lot will depend on the eventual weather conditions for race day. Plenty for the teams and drivers to think about overnight, as starting the race on the medium tyre could be a valid strategy this weekend.”

TRACK CHARACTERISTICS

• As has been seen at a few races already this year, most recently the last round in Japan, the 2019 tyre choice for Mexico is a step harder than its 2018 equivalent. This is because the teams tend to aim for a one-stopper, so a harder choice allows them to push hard from the start to the finish of every stint, rather than rely on pace management.
• Having said that, a two-stopper was the winning strategy last year from Max Verstappen and Red Bull (at a race affected by a virtual safety car) with an ample range of tactics seen. Five of the top 10 went for a one-stopper, while there were six different strategies inside the points-paying places. Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas sealed fifth place even with three stops.
• Mexico is a mixed circuit, with a wide variety of speeds and corners. As well as two very rapid straights, there’s a twisty stadium section (quite literally, as it's an old baseball stadium) where the famous Peraltada corner used to be.
• Some graining was noted with last year’s softer selection, which should hopefully be reduced with this year’s harder compound choices. That graining was also the result of Mexico’s high altitude, with the thin air generating less downforce and so causing the cars to slide more.
• Despite this, both the overall lap records and race lap records were broken in Mexico last year.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“Mexico has always been a tough and unpredictable race with a fantastic atmosphere: especially in the stadium section, where the drivers say that they can hear the fans cheering. There are some good overtaking opportunities over the course of the lap, and we’ve also seen a number of different strategic approaches in the past, as well as quite variable weather conditions. The altitude of Mexico City definitely affects the cars and the set-up, and this has a knock-on effect for the tyres as well. Even a high-downforce setting can feel like low downforce, so there can be a lot of sliding. Once more, we’ve brought a harder selection of compounds compared to last year: this should enable drivers to push the tyres to the maximum”.

OTHER PIRELLI NEWS

• The next 18-inch test of Pirelli’s 2020 Formula 2 tyres is in France, just before the Mexican Grand Prix. Unlike the previous test at Barcelona, which shared the track with Formula 1, this is an exclusive F2 test, with the Formula 2 test car able to run continuously. The next sessions after that will be in Spain and Abu Dhabi.
• Pirelli Hot Laps programme is in place for both the Mexican Grand Prix and United States Grand Prix, giving lucky guests the chance to experience action on an F1 track with a racing driver during a grand prix weekend.
• Both Ferrari drivers and Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton have chosen an identical tyre allocation for Mexico. Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas has gone for an extra set of hards, while Red Bull has loaded up on softs.

Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas won the Japanese Grand Prix with a two-stop soft-medium-soft strategy, on a track that was made quite unpredictable due to an enforced day off yesterday following Typhoon Hagibis. Not only did Saturday’s heavy rain wash away the rubber laid on Friday, but teams also lost a lot of running, with FP3 cancelled and qualifying taking place on Sunday morning. Nonetheless, the fastest race lap set by the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton broke the lap record established by Kimi Raikkonen that had stood since 2005.

KEY MOMENTS

• The fastest predicted strategy for the 53-lap race was a one-stopper: starting on soft for 24 to 27 laps, then medium to the end. Second-fastest, theoretically, was a two-stopper: two stints on soft of 20 laps each followed by one on medium. The slowest theoretical strategy was again a one-stopper but a different one: starting on soft for 20 to 23 laps, then hard to the end.
• In practice, degradation proved to be higher than expected, probably due to warmer conditions. This led most drivers to adopt a two-stopper and run an extremely fast race.
• Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel broke the all-time track record in qualifying today, while Lewis Hamilton broke the 14-year-old race lap record in the race.
• There was a tense tactical battle from start to finish, with both Ferrari and Mercedes drivers using different tyre strategies.
• Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc was the only driver to use a three-stop strategy to fight his way back to sixth, after dropping to last following an early nose change.
• Red Bull’s Alex Albon took his career-best result with fourth, while Mercedes won the 2019 constructors’ championship – for the sixth time in a row.
• McLaren’s Carlos Sainz was the highest-placed soft-medium one-stopper, finishing fifth at the end: a strategy adopted by a number of other drivers.
• Weather remained dry, with track temperatures in the region of 39 degrees towards the end of the race, and 26 degrees centigrade ambient.

HOW EACH TYRE PERFORMED

• HARD C1: Used by seven drivers throughout the race, two of them doing a one-stopper. Although it was not tested extensively on Friday, it was used also for long race stints.
• MEDIUM C2: Only Haas’s Romain Grosjean didn’t use the medium. This compound was equally useful for both a one-stopper and a two-stopper.
• SOFT C3: Three of the top four drivers used a soft-medium-soft strategy: the exception being Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who was the only person to go soft-soft-medium. Due to warmer conditions, it showed higher degradation than was expected before the race.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“On top of all the rearrangements to the schedule following yesterday’s typhoon, which washed the track clean of rubber, the warmer conditions also meant that the teams were dealing with a number of unknown quantities heading into qualifying and the race – both held within a short space of time today. It was mainly a question of developing the strategy during the grand prix, with a number of different tactics seen from one to three stops, as competitors reacted to their rivals’ strategies. All three compounds were used during the race, with four different strategies in the top six, a thrilling tactical battle for the runner-up spot, and lap records broken in qualifying and the race. Congratulations to Mercedes for another well-deserved constructors’ championship victory.”

WHAT WE LEARNED FROM FP1 AND FP2

• Qualifying has been postponed to Sunday morning at 10:00am to try and avoid the effects of an incoming typhoon. All track activity on Saturday is cancelled: if for any reason qualifying can’t take place, the FP2 times are likely to be used to set the grid as FP3 has also been scrubbed.
• Mercedes has been fastest in both sessions held today, using both the medium and soft tyres. With no FP3 and weather conditions uncertain, teams focussed on both race and qualifying preparations, using the Red soft and Yellow medium tyres almost exclusively. This meant that the normal Friday programmes were slightly compromised, with teams putting in qualifying banker laps as well as long runs.
• The fastest FP2 time (from Valtteri Bottas) was set on soft tyres and was more than half a second faster than the equivalent time from last year: very close to the 2018 pole.
• Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was the next-fastest car in FP2, having shown plenty of pace straight out of the box to end up third-fastest and best of the rest.
• Weather conditions are still looking uncertain for Sunday, with strong winds as well as rain quite likely. Today, conditions stayed dry, with ambient temperatures during FP2 of around 29 degrees and track temperatures of 33 degrees.
• So far, we see a performance gap of around 0.6 to 0.7 seconds between the soft and medium, with 0.8 to 0.9 seconds between medium and hard. The hardest possible nomination has been made to cope with the corners at Suzuka: C1, C2 and C3.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“The postponement of qualifying and cancellation of FP3, which was absolutely the right decision under the circumstances, affected the run plans for free practice. Teams not only had to ensure a banker lap, just in case the FP2 times are used to set the grid, but also had to prepare for the race. Despite that, it’s very hard to know exactly what the race conditions will be on Sunday, and how useful today’s running will have turned out to be. The performance gap between the different compounds is not quite as relevant as usual: the hard compound has not been used much today, while the comparison between the soft and medium tyres was very much influenced by track evolution during FP1, as well as by teams using the soft at the end of FP2 to set a time that could form the grid, should qualifying not be held on Sunday morning. There’s obviously now a big air of unpredictability about the whole weekend, which will hopefully lead to an exciting race.”

TRACK CHARACTERISTICS

• The compound nominated this year are a step harder than the medium, soft and supersoft tyres that were chosen last year. This should enable drivers to push to the maximum during every stint, rather than resort to pace management to make a one-stopper work.
• Lateral demands are the defining characteristic of Suzuka (rather than longitudinal forces) thanks to long and fast corners such as 130R and Spoon. There is a distinct flow to the track that is all about carrying momentum: the braking demands, for example, are relatively low.
• The asphalt at Suzuka is among the roughest and most abrasive of the year, which increases tyre wear and degradation.
• Last year the race was won by Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton with one stop, going from soft to medium. The same strategy was adopted by his team made Valtteri Bottas in second, while third-placed Max Verstappen went from supersoft to soft.
• Suzuka is well-known for its variable weather, with typhoons possible at this time of year. Overnight rain often has the effect of ‘resetting’ the track by washing away any rubber laid down: last year quite a lot of track evolution was noted.
• By coincidence, Suzuka is extremely similar to Sochi in terms of overall lap length and time, but the nature and character of the two tracks is very different.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“Japan is always one of the most exciting and unpredictable races of the year, with Suzuka being an old-school track that rewards bravery and commitment. Because of the considerable cornering demands that it places on tyres, we have selected the hardest possible combination in our range, which should help drivers push to the maximum even with a one-stop strategy. This is what the teams nearly always aim for, and most drivers chose at Suzuka last year. In 2017 we also saw a new overall lap record in qualifying, and with the emphasis on cornering speeds on the current generation of cars, it will be interesting to see if that is broken this weekend. Suzuka is also well-known for its variable weather, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see the wet weather tyres appear on this famously demanding circuit”.

OTHER PIRELLI NEWS

• Pirelli is completing the final validation test for the 2020 Formula 1 slick tyres today and tomorrow at Barcelona. Three teams are taking part: Esteban Ocon drives for Mercedes, Sebastian Vettel takes part for Ferrari, and Alex Albon is at the wheel for Red Bull.
• Pirelli won the WRC2 class at Wales Rally GB with 2003 World Rally Champion Petter Solberg, who was reunited with long-time co-driver Phil Mills for his final rally, in a Volkswagen Polo R5. A new Junior WRC champion was also crowned on Pirelli tyres in Wales: Jan Solans from Spain, co-driven by Mauro Barreiro.
• Pirelli’s last visit to Suzuka was just over a month ago, for the Suzuka 10 Hours at the end of August, which was won by Audi. Mika Hakkinen, a winner in F1 at Suzuka with McLaren in 1998 and 1999, also took part in the race, sharing a McLaren GT3 with two Japanese drivers. They were classified 22^nd at the finish.

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won the Russian Grand Prix from second on the grid with one pit stop, moving from the medium to the soft tyre under a virtual safety car. His team mate Valtteri Bottas, who finished second, adopted the same strategy. Behind them there was a wide variety of tactics seen throughout the 53-lap race, which featured two safety cars: one straight after the start, and one just over the halfway point.

KEY MOMENTS

• Mercedes was the only team in the top 10 of the grid to start on the medium tyres. Ferrari adopted a different tactic, starting on the soft.
• Both Mercedes drivers ran a longer first stint than Ferrari, and made their sole pit stops consecutively under a virtual safety car, switching to the soft tyres.
• With Charles Leclerc ending up behind the two Mercedes following their stops, Ferrari switched strategy to bring him in for a second stop to soft tyres under a full safety car, two laps after the Mercedes drivers had pitted.
• The driver to make up most places was Red Bull’s Alex Albon, who started from the pit lane and made a single stop from medium to soft tyres on his way to fifth at the finish.
• There was an equal mixture of soft and medium tyres seen at the start with only Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat starting his home race on the hard tyre from the back of the grid.
• Although a one-stopper was predicted as being the fastest strategy, four of the 15 classified finishers ended up stopping twice: including Leclerc, on the podium. This was heavily influenced by the safety cars.

HOW EACH TYRE PERFORMED

• HARD C2: This was predicted as a workable option for the second stint, but in the end only three drivers used it, with the medium and soft resisting well.
• MEDIUM C3: A key element to Hamilton’s win. With low degradation, the drivers using this at the start were able to maximise their stint and keep their options open.
• SOFT C4: Also used for some long stints, notably by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who completed a long first run to move from ninth on the grid to fourth at the finish. Hamilton used the soft to set the fastest lap towards the end of the race.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“Tactics were an important element to the race, with opposite strategies being selected by Mercedes and Ferrari that resulted in an exciting finish, as Charles Leclerc tried to get past his rivals. The medium tyres selected by Mercedes gave them an advantage in terms of flexibility, but what was perhaps more of a surprise was the life of the soft. This worked better in today’s warmer conditions, being less susceptible to graining at higher temperatures. The two safety car periods were a key factor in the grand prix, minimising wear and degradation during important phases in the race, as well as providing opportunities to make pit stops at the right moment to minimise time loss. We came to Russia with a harder tyre choice than last year: this enabled drivers to push hard from the start to finish of each stint, rather than manage their pace.”

POSSIBLE RACE STRATEGIES

As has traditionally been the case at the 53-lap Russian Grand Prix, a one-stopper is going to be the quickest strategy – but which one stopper?

In theory, the fastest way is to start on the soft for 15 to 19 laps and then go to the hard. In practice, there might be an advantage to start on the medium instead for 14 to 22 laps and subsequently switch to the hard. This strategy also offers more flexibility in the event of a safety car, for example.

A slightly slower one-stopper is to start on the soft for 22 to 26 laps and then switch to the medium for the rest of the race: this would probably require some degree of pace management.

A two-stopper will always be slower under normal circumstances, but the fastest two-stopper on paper is: start on the soft for 16 to 18 laps, move on to the soft again for another 16 to 18 laps, then medium to the end.

KEEP AN EYE ON

• Strategy. The beginnings of a big strategic battle were already seen in qualifying, with Mercedes adopting a very different approach to Ferrari. This means that they will both be using opposite tactics on race day.
• Performance. The pace has often been slightly quicker than last year, despite a tyre selection that’s a step harder compared to 2018. This should allow the drivers to push hard throughout each stint, so expect a fast race tomorrow.
• Pit stops. There’s low wear and degradation, so both the ‘undercut’ as seen in Singapore, as well as the ‘overcut’ – gaining an advantage by staying out longer than your rivals – are far less likely to be effective.
• Red Bull and Toro Rosso. Each of these teams will be starting with a car at the back of the grid, after Alex Albon crashed in Q1 and Daniil Kvyat sat out qualifying. All the Honda-powered cars are also taking grid penalties: what can they do in the race?

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“There’s an intriguing strategic battle in store tomorrow, with Mercedes being the only team to select the medium tyre to set their fastest Q2 times. There was some overnight rain that reset the track for FP3 and qualifying, causing a bit of track evolution, but no further rain during the day. If the rain continues to hold off, we can expect a more stable track tomorrow, with a one-stopper being clearly the way forward. However, we’re likely to see many different permutations of one-stopper, using all three available compounds. Sochi is not the easiest of circuits to overtake on, so we can expect a big tactical fight in the pits and on the track tomorrow.”

WHAT WE LEARNED FROM FP1 AND FP2

• Despite the nominated compounds for Russia being a step harder than last year, the fastest lap times today were actually quicker than their 2018 equivalents, in line with the tendency we have often seen this year.
• In addition, there was none of the same graining that was seen on the hypersoft selected one year ago.
• Conditions were reasonably cool and overcast for most of the day, with ambient and track temperatures of around 24 and 28 degrees centigrade respectively in the afternoon.
• However, the weather forecast is for rain tomorrow, starting tonight. This meant that gathering as much information on all three slick compounds today was particularly crucial, as there may not be the opportunity on Saturday.
• Although Sochi has a reputation for being a very smooth track, in reality it’s not quite that simple: there’s a big difference between the micro and macro roughness. This is one aspect of the track that makes it unique on the calendar.
• So far, the performance difference between the medium and the soft is around 0.6 seconds, with a similar gap between the medium and hard.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“The fact that we’ve seen quicker lap times than last year despite nominating tyres that are a step harder shows that this was the correct selection for Sochi, in what is very likely to be a one-stop race. Having three different teams in the top three FP2 times, with Ferrari going quickest in the morning and Red Bull fastest in the afternoon, underlines how closely matched the teams are in terms of pace. However, the weekend’s action is set to be heavily influenced by the weather, with rain expected tonight that could persist until tomorrow, before a dry race on Sunday. This meant that the teams focussed on collecting as much data as possible today, running all three compounds at length. Each one of them could play an important part in the race, depending on the strategy chosen.”

TRACK CHARACTERISTICS

• The Russian Grand Prix was noted for its smooth asphalt when it joined the championship in 2014, with Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg able to complete practically the whole race on just one set of tyres. Since then the surface has matured and roughened: in combination with a track layout that’s not particularly severe, this is not an especially demanding circuit for tyres.
• The exception is Turn 3: the most demanding corner of the circuit. This is a multi-apex left-hander that is similar in some ways to Istanbul’s famous Turn 8 in Turkey. In general, the circuit is all about traction and braking, with the front-right tyre worked hardest.
• Last year, the 2018 soft, ultrasoft and hypersoft were nominated in Russia: a step softer than this year. A harder selection this time should ensure that drivers are able to push to the maximum throughout each stint, rather than rely on pace management, and should also cope well with any changes in the track surface.
• One pit stop is also the norm, historically. Last year, Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won from second on the grid using a one-stop ultrasoft-soft strategy, while Red Bull’s Max Verstappen did the opposite (soft-ultrasoft) to finish fifth from the back of the grid.
• Weather conditions can be quite variable. Last year there was some rain before the race, but in other years there has been bright sunshine. A notable chance of rain is currently forecast.
• Mercedes has won every grand prix ever held in Russia – including the very first two races, held at Saint Petersburg in 1913 and 1914.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“With Russia now re-established in its autumn date, having moved back to this slot last year, it’s going to be interesting to see what has changed compared to 2018. We're bringing tyres from the middle of the range this year – a step harder than last year – which should be well-adapted to a wide variety of conditions. Longitudinal rather than lateral forces are the main influence on the tyres here, with a high degree of track evolution throughout the weekend. Anticipating the set-up and tyre strategy with regard to the changing requirements of the track will be one of the keys to success in Sochi. A new absolute lap record was set last year by Valtteri Bottas in qualifying last year – let’s see if that is lowered further this year”.

OTHER PIRELLI NEWS

• Pirelli recently clinched a WRC2 podium lockout with its brand new gravel rally tyre on the Rally of Turkey: widely known as the roughest event on the World Rally Championship.
• The 18-inch Formula 1 tyre testing programme has got underway with the first session at Paul Ricard in France, featuring Renault and its Russian test driver Sergey Sirotkin. He completed more than 200 laps in two days, using an adapted 2018 Renault.
• Championship leader Lewis Hamilton has made a tyre choice that nobody else has for the Russian Grand Prix: one hard tyre, four medium tyres (more than anyone else) and eight soft tyres.

For the third race in a row, a Ferrari won – this time with Sebastian Vettel, from third on the grid. The German used pit stop strategy to get ahead of his pole-sitting team mate Charles Leclerc, who finished second. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen completed the podium, with the top seven all using the same tyre strategy in a tactically complex and physically demanding race, slowed down by three safety car periods.

KEY MOMENTS

• The top nine on the grid all started on the soft tyre, with everyone else on medium, apart from Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly who started from P11 on the hard and eventually finished eighth.
• Vettel took advantage of an ‘undercut’, stopping before his team mate to move into the effective lead of the race. Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton – who was jumped by Verstappen at the pit stops – adopted a different strategy, with a longer first stint and carefully-controlled pace to the finish, where he was classified fourth.
• Pace management was seen in the first half of the race, which meant that the outcome was only finally decided in the closing stages of the grand prix.
• Singapore kept up its 100% safety car record, with three safety car periods in the second half of the race influencing the action.
• Both Renault drivers were forced into alternative strategies, with Daniel Ricciardo starting from last on the grid, and Nico Hulkenberg pitting for hards on the opening lap after some contact. McLaren’s Carlos Sainz was in a similar situation, also switching to hards on lap one.
• Although the frontrunners adopted the same strategy, there was a very big variety of tactics in the midfield, with a number of different one-stoppers and two-stoppers used.

HOW EACH TYRE PERFORMED

• HARD C3: Every driver used the hard, which proved to be a crucial race tyre that enabled some very long stints, especially with Gasly, Hulkenberg and Sainz.
• MEDIUM C4: Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi completed a long first stint on this compound to move into the race lead as those ahead of him stopped.
• SOFT C5: The longest first stint on this compound was completed by Hamilton, with some degree of management needed on them in the first part of the race.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“It was a really interesting grand prix, with tyre strategy a key element. We saw plenty of pace management in the first half of the race, with drivers saving fuel and tyres for later in this very long grand prix: especially as the safety car wipes out any big advantage instantly. Managing the tyres in anticipation of the safety car proved to be a key element of the race, and the three safety car periods also had the effect of minimising tyre wear and degradation. With Singapore being a track that requires a lot of traction from the rear tyres, the set-up tends to place big demands on the front of the car, in order to protect the rear. In spite of that, we’re happy with the levels of wear and degradation seen today. For the frontrunners, soft-hard turned out to be the optimal strategy, used by the top seven, but all three compounds played an important role in the race today and there were plenty of different strategies. Congratulations to Sebastian Vettel, Charles Leclerc and Ferrari for a spectacular double podium at a spectacular race.”

POSSIBLE RACE STRATEGIES

The theoretically fastest strategy for the 61-lap Singapore Grand Prix, which is likely to go to the full two hours, is a one-stopper – but with 18 safety cars since the first race was held here in 2008, anything can happen.
In a perfect world, the best way is to start on the soft for 16 to 20 laps and then switch to the medium. An alternative strategy (for those starting outside the top 10), which is very closely matched on time, is to start on the medium tyre for 28 to 32 laps, and then go to hard. The slowest one-stopper is soft to hard, changing after 14 to 18 laps.
On paper, a two-stopper is definitely slower, but the way to do it would be two stints on the soft of 12 to 14 laps each, and a final run to the flag on medium.
In reality, the race circumstances often tend to be dictated by opportunities presented by the safety car. With a long and unpredictable grand prix, this is one of the hardest races of the year to predict a strategy for.

KEEP AN EYE ON

• Safety cars. We’ve said it before, but this has often been the key influencer at Singapore, with more than one safety car in the race also a common occurrence.
• Strategy. The top 10 will all be starting on the soft tyres but there’s scope for those further down the grid to start on the medium and run an alternative strategy. All three nominated compounds are solid race tyres.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“A bit like the actual grand prix, this was an exciting qualifying session from start to finish. In the end, with considerably more than a second between the medium and the soft, everyone chose to get through Q2 on the soft tyre, so the top 10 will all start the race on this compound tomorrow. When it came down to the final Q3 runs, getting the timing right was crucial, with Leclerc maximising the window of opportunity and delivering an incredible lap. In theory, starting on the soft tyre forms the beginning of the optimal race strategy tomorrow, but in practice we’ve seen in the past that absolutely anything can happen in Singapore. So it’s definitely a very tough race where drivers can do well even starting further down the grid order.”

WHAT WE LEARNED FROM FP1 AND FP2

• Free practice in Singapore panned out pretty much as expected: drivers faced a green and slippery circuit in hot and humid conditions, with quite a big disparity between the daylight conditions of FP1 and the night running in FP2.
• Up to now, there’s a performance difference of more than a second per lap between the Red soft compound and the Yellow medium, then around 0.8 seconds between the medium and the White hard.
• Ambient temperatures were 29 degrees centigrade halfway through FP2 with track temperatures of 33 degrees: similar to the expected race conditions.
• There was no graining and blistering at all during FP1. Grip increased as expected once the track began to rubber in.
• FP1 was interrupted by a red flag, after Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas went off during a long run.
• The soft tyre (the C5 compound, which is the softest of the P Zero Formula 1 range) was quickest in both sessions, on the Red Bull of Max Verstappen in FP1 and the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton in FP2.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“There were no big surprises from free practice in Singapore, with the track and conditions similar to last year. This resulted in broadly similar lap times compared to 2018. The track is still evolving so let’s see tomorrow. Despite the challenging conditions here – many drivers call this the toughest circuit physically of the entire year – we experienced no blistering or graining, with the teams accumulating plenty of useful data for a race that is likely to run to the full two hours. While the soft tyre dominated the action today, all three compounds were sampled. The medium and the hard look set to be viable race tyres as well: especially for those starting outside the top 10 on the grid, with a one-stopper quite likely as the optimal race strategy. With the big lap time gap between medium and soft seen so far, this makes qualifying on the medium appear to be quite a tall order.”

TRACK CHARACTERISTICS

• The nomination is broadly the same as last year, when soft, ultrasoft and hypersoft were chosen. These were well-suited to a demanding race, which Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won with a single-stop hypersoft-soft strategy – although a number of other strategies were seen as well.
• Singapore has a 100% safety car record thanks to its tight confines and unforgiving barriers, meaning that strategies have to be flexible to capitalise on any opportunities that arise.
• With the circuit used just once a year, on public roads, there is a high degree of track evolution as well as the usual street furniture as manholes and white lines that can alter grip levels.
• It is a tough race mechanically due to the heat and humidity, with very little ventilation and cooling due to the track characteristics.
• With the race taking place at night, the usual patterns of rising and falling track temperatures during the afternoon are not seen. With some practice sessions taking place earlier, it is not always easy to get an accurate read on the likely race conditions.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“It is hard to think of a bigger contrast to Monza than Singapore, so the teams will have a significant reset as we head into the final long-haul leg of the season. The unique challenges of Singapore are quite well known to them though, so they will have a good idea what to expect as they dial themselves into the track on Friday. We’ve seen in the past that there is scope to vary the strategy, and with overtaking quite tricky at Marina Bay, teams will be carefully assessing the ways in which they could potentially take advantage of strategy to move up the order. Especially considering the very high likelihood of safety cars there, which can change the complexion of a race. It is going to be interesting to see if anyone tries to qualify on the medium rather than the soft, to add flexibility to the strategy, given all the variables. There are some quite different tyre choices among the drivers, so we might see some alternative approaches”.

OTHER PIRELLI NEWS

• Pirelli successfully completed its first test of 18-inch Formula 1 tyres last week at Paul Ricard in France, with Sergey Sirotkin driving for Renault. At the same time, Mercedes undertook the final 13-inch development test for next year’s tyres, with Esteban Ocon at the wheel.
• Lamborghini and Mercedes claimed a title each in the Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe, after the Lamborghini crew of Andrea Caldarelli and Marco Mapelli lifted the drivers’ titles, while Black Falcon Mercedes sealed the teams’ title.
• The only single-seater road-going car manufacturer that Pirelli exclusively supplies – British firm BAC – recently visited the Italian’s firm HQ in Milan to celebrate its 100^th car. Since the start of this year, the BAC Mono is supplied with P Zero Trofeo R: Pirelli’s unique track day tyre for the road, which incorporates Formula 1 technology.

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc claimed his second consecutive win from pole, using a soft-hard one-stop strategy: the only driver in the race to select this. The Monegasque driver, taking Ferrari’s first home victory since 2010, had to soak up constant pressure from both Mercedes drivers on a soft-medium strategy, who finished second and third behind him.

KEY MOMENTS

• Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes attempted to ‘undercut’ Leclerc by pitting one lap before him, for medium tyres. Nonetheless, Leclerc’s pace was enough for him to emerge ahead of Hamilton after making his own stop for the hard tyre and defend his lead all the way to the finish.
• The fastest lap of the race was set by Lewis Hamilton, who made a late second stop for the soft, while his team mate Valtteri Bottas took up the pursuit of Leclerc.
• Conditions remained dry following heavy overnight rain, with air and track temperatures respectively of 21 and 35 degrees.
• Many frontrunners were hit with grid penalties, selecting mediums for the opening stint. One was Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who started last and finished eighth, despite making two stops. Ahead of him in seventh was Racing Point’s Sergio Perez, who started 18^th after an engine change.

HOW EACH TYRE PERFORMED

• HARD C2: Used by both Ferrari drivers, notably by Leclerc who benefited from their durability and consistency to win the race despite intense pressure.
• MEDIUM C3: Instrumental to the fightback staged by those starting towards the back of the grid after penalties, who all chose this tyre from P14 downwards.
• SOFT C4: Used by the top half of the grid to start the grand prix, with a soft-medium one-stopper predicted as the fastest strategy. During the race, all drivers except Norris and Russell used it.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“In dry conditions, the majority of drivers could execute the predicted one-stop strategy, with the central battle for most of the race being between the soft-hard strategy from Ferrari and Leclerc versus the soft-medium ‘undercut’ from Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton. Both drivers delivered an excellent battle all the way to the finish, with Valtteri Bottas joining in as well. We saw some impressive stints even from the soft tyres, with several drivers hanging onto their original set of starting softs well into the second half of the race; helped also by a couple of virtual safety car periods. Congratulations to Charles Leclerc and Ferrari for a memorable home victory, as well as to Renault for getting two cars into the top five, not to mention Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi for his best race result.”

POSSIBLE RACE STRATEGIES

The optimal strategy for the 53-lap Italian Grand Prix is a one-stopper, but of course it all depends on the weather. Assuming it stays dry, which is a reasonably big assumption, the fastest strategy is to start on the soft and change to the medium on lap 22. That’s what the top 10 here is banking on.
Very close is another one stop strategy: start on the soft, then change for the hard after 19 laps. Slightly slower than that is another one-stopper: start on the medium and change onto the hard after 24 laps.
A two-stopper is distinctly slower, so only to be considered if wear and degradation on the soft is higher than expected (in case of warmer weather, for example). In which case: start on the soft, soft again on lap 16, then medium around lap 32.
If it rains, then it’s just a question of reacting to changing circumstances and opportunities (such as safety cars). The teams gathered considerable information about the intermediate tyres and crossover points on Friday, which will certainly help in the decision-making process under those challenging circumstances.

KEEP AN EYE ON

• Weather. The forecasts suggest changeable conditions with a risk of rain, which will have a big effect on tyre and race strategy.
• Grid penalties. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly and McLaren’s Lando Norris are the drivers affected by grid penalties, which influenced qualifying strategy.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“We experienced very different conditions today compared to what we saw yesterday, and the predictions are that the weather could change again tomorrow, making it a difficult weekend to manage from an engineering and tyre point of view, with the teams having to lock themselves into a dry or a wet set-up in advance. This undoubtedly had an effect in qualifying, together with yesterday’s lack of running. Whether or not the teams go for the anticipated one-stopper depends largely on the weather. In particular, if it rains, the strategy will only be decided as the race unfolds. Whatever happens, our tyre selection here should enable drivers to push to the maximum throughout each stint. Congratulations to Charles Leclerc for his second pole position in two weeks.”

WHAT WE LEARNED FROM FP1 AND FP2

• Not a huge amount was learned about the P Zero slick tyres, as four red flags and rain featured throughout both sessions. Conditions are set to remain variable for the rest of the weekend, so today could end up being quite representative.
• The rain ensured representative running on the Cinturato Green intermediate tyres, as well as the slick tyres. This gave teams a valuable initial insight into the likely crossover points, which could be extremely useful information this weekend. Despite the rain, today’s best FP2 time was already faster than its equivalent one year ago.
• So far, the time difference between the medium and the soft is just under a second per lap but track evolution in dry conditions means that this will come down. In the cool conditions seen today, with track temperatures peaking at only 28 degrees centigrade, the softer compounds generally worked better.
• There’s a patch of new asphalt at the second chicane: this is smoother and more slippery than the other parts of the track, especially when the surface is damp.
• The uncertain weather expected for the rest of the weekend means that there could be different approaches to qualifying, with different teams opting for either a wet or a dry set-up.
• Charles Leclerc was fastest with his Ferrari in FP1 (on the medium tyre) as well as in FP2 (on the soft tyre). But the true picture of relative performance between the top teams is yet to fully emerge.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“It was a tricky opening day at Monza, but that didn’t mean that it wasn’t useful, especially because the weather looks set to be uncertain for the rest of the weekend. As a result, teams made the most of running the slick and intermediate tyres, in order to be prepared for anything and also to assess the crossover points. The full wet tyres were also used, but only by a few drivers for a handful of laps. Nonetheless, it’s true that both sessions were heavily interrupted, which means that teams are still missing quite a lot of data and the overall picture of tyre behaviour remains incomplete. The work carried out in free practice tomorrow morning will be particularly vital as the teams head into qualifying, depending on how the conditions look.”

TRACK CHARACTERISTICS

• Last year’s pole from Kimi Raikkonen became the fastest-ever lap of Monza and in Formula 1 history, at an average speed of 263.587kph. The fastest Monza race lap still stands at 1m21.046s (with an average of 257.320kph), courtesy of Rubens Barrichello back in 2004.
• This year’s choices are broadly similar to last year, when medium, soft and supersoft were selected. The only difference is that the current C4 is softer than the 2018 supersoft, while the C2 is also a little softer than last year’s medium. As usual, the data from previous years is a key factor when it comes to selecting tyres for races.
• Teams run the lowest downforce possible at Monza, to maximise top speed on the long straights. This means that the tyres have to provide maximum mechanical grip through the corners, and that understeer can also sometimes be an issue: also because teams aim to protect the rear tyres in order to optimise traction.
• The weather is usually dry and warm at Monza, but last year there was intermittent rain during Friday and Saturday, which made the usual job of data collection quite tricky.
• Last year, Lewis Hamilton won the race from third on the grid with a one-stop strategy, which was used by the majority of competitors. He pitted later than polesitter Raikkonen and then used the advantage of fresher tyres to make a move for the lead later in the race.
• There are some big kerbs that the drivers hit very hard: especially at the Rettifilo and Roggia chicanes. This means that the structural strength of the tyres is an important factor.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“Monza is still a huge challenge for drivers, cars and tyres: a bit like Spa, who took place last weekend. Unlike last year though, we don’t have the same tyre nomination for both races. While Spa featured harder tyres compared to 2018, at Monza the softest choice is slightly softer than last year. With the fastest-ever lap in Formula 1 history set in qualifying at Monza last year, and a tendency for the cars to be even faster this year, we might see more history being made this weekend. While Monza is traditionally renowned as a place where it’s hard to overtake, last year’s race also showed how tyre strategy can make an important difference. For the last two years it has rained at some point during the Monza weekend as well, adding another variable to what is always a very closely-fought race with small margins.”

OTHER PIRELLI NEWS

• A number of celebrations are planned leading up to the Monza weekend: on September 4, Ferrari and ACI (the Italian motorsport federation) will jointly celebrate 90 year of Ferrari and the 90^th Italian Grand Prix to be held at Monza, with a parade and festival at Milan’s Piazza Duomo.
• During the same weekend as the Italian Grand Prix, Pirelli will be a sponsor of the exclusive Salon Privé in the grounds of Blenheim Palace in the United Kingdom. Part garden party, part motor show, Salon Privé hosts the launch of more than 10 prestigious new cars this year, as well as celebrating 100 years of Bentley.

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc converted his pole position to victory in Spa, using a one-stop soft-medium strategy that we had predicted as the optimal tactic. This same strategy was used by the top three (who all made their single stops within three laps of each other) with the Mercedes cars of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas completing the podium.

KEY MOMENTS

• Sebastian Vettel, who started from second on the grid, was the first of the frontrunners to pit for mediums. Having led the race, he then made a second stop for soft tyres and emerged fourth, which is where he finished. He also claimed the extra championship point for fastest lap. Vettel was one of just three drivers in the top 10 to stop twice.
• Weather conditions were much cooler than they had been previously, with track temperatures consistently below 30 degrees centigrade throughout the race.
• Two of the five drivers who started the race quite far down the grid on the medium tyre (with everyone else starting on the soft) finished in the top 10. One of them was Red Bull’s new driver Alex Albon – who ended up fifth, after starting 17th.
• The longest stint on the medium was done by Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo who drove practically the entire race on it, after getting caught up in a first-lap incident.
• McLaren’s Lando Norris was on course for his best-ever result in fifth place with a soft-medium strategy before retiring on the final lap due to a technical problem.

HOW EACH TYRE PERFORMED

• HARD C1: Not seen at all during the race, with today’s cool temperatures favouring the softer compounds, and hardly used throughout the weekend.
• MEDIUM C2: Proved to be extremely well-suited to the demands of Spa, with some very long stints. Leclerc and Hamilton’s strong management of this compound during the final stint was key to the end battle and Leclerc’s eventual victory.
• SOFT C3: Used by nearly all of the drivers to start the race and claimed fastest lap close to the finish with Vettel. Thanks to the cooler temperatures, the soft demonstrated better performance compared to what was seen in free practice.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“Congratulations to Ferrari and Charles Leclerc for his well-deserved first victory, after what has been an extremely difficult weekend for the whole motorsport community with the loss of Anthoine Hubert. Charles executed the theoretically fastest tyre strategy perfectly, managing his final set of mediums very well under a lot of pressure from Lewis Hamilton at the end. One of the big challenges for all the drivers today was adapting to very different weather conditions to what we had seen previously this weekend, which made wear and degradation rates quite tricky to anticipate.”

POSSIBLE RACE STRATEGIES

The optimal strategy for the 44-lap Belgian Grand Prix is a one-stopper, assuming it remains dry. Ideally, the quickest way is to start on the soft tyre for 18 to 22 laps, then switch to the medium until the end.
Very close behind in terms of overall race time is a two-stopper: starting on the soft for 15 laps, switching to the soft again for another 15-lap stint, and then doing the final 14 laps on the medium.
Finally, there’s a slightly slower alternative strategy (in case of an early safety car): start on the soft for 12 to 14 laps, then finish on hard.

KEEP AN EYE ON

• Changeable weather. Temperatures reached 31 degrees ambient and 40 degrees on track during qualifying, but tomorrow’s conditions are expected to be cooler, with a possibility of rain as well.
• Pit stops. There’s quite a wide pit stop window and overtaking is very possible at Spa. So the timing of the pit stops could be absolutely crucial, with a number of strategic ploys to try and gain track position.
• Reliability. The Q1 session was interrupted by two red flags, with technical problems leaving cars stranded on track. With Spa being a famously punishing circuit, it’s sure to take its toll on cars as well as tyres.
• Grid penalties. There’s a large number of grid penalties in place for this race that will inevitably affect the competitive order and strategy, including a penalty for new Red Bull driver Alex Albon.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“With a one-stop soft-medium strategy being the likely way to go here, it was no real surprise that we saw only the red tyre during qualifying. Whether or not anyone deviates from the predicted strategy will depend largely on the race and weather circumstances: if the weather changes or if there’s an early safety car, this could drive people towards the harder compounds or an extra stop. However, all the forecasts suggest that it will instead be cooler than the unusually warm temperatures we had today. It was certainly a dramatic qualifying session with all the stoppages in Q1. Tomorrow will be all about looking after the rear tyres in particular to control the degradation on what is always one of the most abrasive and challenging circuits of the year. Congratulations to Ferrari for their excellent one-two result in qualifying: we should be in for an exciting race tomorrow.”

WHAT WE LEARNED FROM FP1 AND FP2

• The weather was dry and warm today, with track temperatures peaking at 40 degrees during the afternoon. The circuit was in good condition, with the tyres behaving exactly as expected. As is often the case in Belgium, there was a big difference in track temperature between the morning and afternoon sessions.
• Similar to last year (where Ferrari was fastest in every session apart from Q3) the team topped both FP1 and FP2 with Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc respectively.
• The difference between the medium and soft compounds – which will be used predominantly in the race – is around a second per lap here. The hard compound wasn’t used much today so it’s difficult to predict the gap accurately, but we estimate it to be in the region of 1.5 seconds.
• Usually, there is quite a lot of residual rubber put down by the Spa 24 Hours, held last month. With the 24-hour race having been held under a lot of rain though (which even led to a lengthy stoppage) there was little rubber already on the track.
• No blistering or graining was seen throughout the day, on one of the most abrasive surfaces in the entire championship.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“Today was largely what we expected from Friday in Belgium, with quite a change in track temperature from the morning to the afternoon, and a significant degree of track evolution in FP1. However, the track was generally in good condition, which enabled a lot of representative data to be collected. We saw long runs on both the soft and the medium tyres during the afternoon, in roughly equal proportions. The weather forecast suggests cooler conditions for the race on Sunday; one reason why the teams focussed on medium and soft tyres, although we can’t of course exclude the possibility of the hard being used as well. With the big demands that Spa places on tyres, teams will be monitoring the levels of degradation closely as they refine their strategies. We’ve seen a reasonable amount of degradation on the soft tyre today, so a large part of the work from here on will be optimising the car balance on the soft tyre, in order to make the most of this compound during the race.”

TRACK CHARACTERISTICS

• At just over seven kilometres, Spa is the longest track on the F1 calendar – which is why the race distance is scheduled for only 44 laps.
• Spa is also well-known for its changeable weather, and the length of the lap means that it can be raining on one section of the track while staying completely dry in another. If it rains, areas of standing water can easily form, due to the drainage characteristics of the track.
• Most drivers list Spa as one of their favourite circuits, because of the challenge and sensations that it provides them with. Exactly the same is true for the tyres, which are subjected to high forces from all directions: lateral, longitudinal, and vertical.
• Last year the medium, soft and supersoft tyres were nominated. This year’s nomination for Belgium is generally harder and more widely spaced, with the C1 and C2 a little softer than their 2018 hard and medium equivalents and the C3 close to last year’s soft.
• Last year, most drivers chose a supersoft-soft one-stopper (with the notable exception of Valtteri Bottas, who finished fourth with a two-stopper). The race, which was dry after a wet qualifying, was affected by an early safety car – and only two drivers used the hardest compound available.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“Spa is always an amazing drivers’ circuit but that is also why the tyres are put under some of the biggest stresses that they face all season. As a result, we’ve nominated the three hardest compounds in the range – a slightly different choice to last year – which should allow the drivers to push to the maximum during each stint and minimise the need for pace management. The harder choice this year at Silverstone, for example, led to a very closely-fought race and a fastest lap from Lewis Hamilton right at the end on well-used tyres. We know a lot about Spa, also from our experience of supplying the Spa 24 Hours. Last month’s race there was stopped by rain for several hours, which underlines the likelihood of mixed weather conditions, with qualifying for last year’s Belgian Grand Prix run in the wet as well. This is a track where it’s very possible to overtake, so under the right circumstances, it’s feasible to make an aggressive strategy work.”

OTHER PIRELLI NEWS

• Mercedes (along with the McLaren of Lando Norris) is the team that has chosen the least number of soft tyres for Spa, taking two more medium sets compared to Ferrari and Red Bull.
• Both Formula 2 and Formula 3, exclusively supplied by Pirelli as well, also resume in Belgium.
• Pirelli has launched a brand new P Zero Trofeo R tyre for Pagani, which has been developed in a similar way to the Formula 1 tyres: a perfect example of road to track technology transfer. The Trofeo R is a track day that’s legal for road use, and the latest example has been specifically developed for the Pagani Huayra BC roadster.
• Last weekend, Pirelli has also exclusively supplied the Suzuka 10 Hours in Japan: the fourth round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge, featuring 23 teams that represented 10 manufacturers. Audi claimed victory with Dries Vanthoor, Kelvin van der Linde and Frederic Vervisch, while two-time Formula 1 world champion Mika Hakkinen finished 22nd on his return to competition in a McLaren 720s GT3.

WHAT'S NEW IN 2019

Just three colours at each race in 2019, with five different compounds available: C1 is the hardest, C5 is the softest.

WHAT’S CONFIRMED

1. Each driver must save one set of the softest of the three nominated compounds for Q3. This set will then be returned for those who qualify in the top 10, but the remaining drivers will keep it for the race.

2. Each driver must have both race sets available for the grand prix.

3. Teams are free to choose the remaining 10 sets, making 13 sets in total for the weekend.

4. Selections for long-haul events have to be made 14 weeks in advance; for European races the deadline is 8 weeks in advance.

After some fantastic wheel-to-wheel racing, Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton passed Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to win the Hungarian Grand Prix with four laps to go, following a second pit stop late in the race to gain an advantage from fresher P Zero Yellow medium tyres. Hamilton, who started third on the grid, caught up with Verstappen again – who claimed a first pole yesterday – after his second stop to reprise their duel and ensure a spectacular finish.

KEY MOMENTS

• Both Verstappen and Hamilton began the race on what appeared to be identical one-stop medium-hard strategies, with Hamilton making his first stop six laps later than Verstappen. Having failed to get past Verstappen, Mercedes then opted to pit Hamilton for a second stop back onto mediums, which proved to be the winning strategy.
• After being passed by Hamilton, Verstappen also made a final stop onto the soft tyre in the closing stages, claiming the extra championship point for fastest lap.
• The race was run at a frenetic pace: the leading duo were able to make their first stops without losing position to the third and fourth placed cars. The fastest race lap was also more than three seconds faster than the equivalent time from last year.
• Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel finished third with another alternative strategy: a long first stint on the medium, followed by a shorter final stint on the soft.
• The top six on the grid all started on the medium tyre, with McLaren’s Carlos Sainz the highest-placed driver to start on soft, from seventh on the grid. The Spaniard finished fifth in the race after stopping once, from the soft to the hard.
• A wide variety of tyre tactics were seen throughout the race, with five very different strategies in the top five.

HOW EACH TYRE PERFORMED

• HARD C2: Used extensively during the race and was the key ingredient to a one-stopper for most drivers: Vettel was the only driver in the top six not to use it.
• MEDIUM C3: Another key element of the Hungarian Grand Prix; McLaren and Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo were the only people not making use of it today.
• SOFT C4: Did some surprisingly long stints at the start of the race with McLaren and was a key ingredient of Vettel’s strategy, who ended up taking a late podium.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“This was a really exciting grand prix with a big divergence of strategies, which kept us guessing all the way to the final laps! Mercedes took a bold call to pit Hamilton again but it proved to be the right decision: even though the race was very nearly a one-stopper for both Hamilton and Max Verstappen. After mixed conditions in free practice and qualifying today was dry and warm: this almost certainly contributed to the unpredictable race outcome, as nobody really had any reliable long run data on the tyres in these conditions. Despite these demanding circumstances, all three compounds stood up extremely well to the challenge, with all of them contributing strongly to the entertaining race action.”

POSSIBLE RACE STRATEGIES

The optimal race strategy for the 70-lap Hungarian Grand Prix should be a one-stopper. The fastest is to go from soft to medium, changing from lap 24-30, but a medium to hard strategy, swapping from laps 30 to 35, is very close and has the advantage of minimising degradation.
Slightly slower than that is to run the soft for 22 to 28 laps before switching to the hard.
A two-stopper is less efficient, also because track position is particularly key at the Hungaroring, due to the difficulty of overtaking on the tight and twisty track. If a two-stopper is adopted, soft-medium-medium would be the optimal way to go, removing the softs after 16 to 20 laps.
The big question mark is the weather: following the not so warm conditions (for Hungary) up to now, nobody has an accurate picture of wear and degradation on the soft tyre in particular if conditions become warmer.

KEEP AN EYE ON

• Weather. Conditions were mixed yesterday, and reasonably warm today, with qualifying getting underway in 27 degrees centigrade ambient and 48 degrees of track temperature. The race is expected to be dry, but this forecast is far from certain.
• Strategy. Mercedes, Ferrari, and Red Bull all set their best times on the medium tyre in Q2. They will all start the race on this compound, locking out the top six places on the grid.
• McLaren. Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz have been consistently quick all weekend, with the sinuous track suiting the characteristics of their car. They line up best of the rest, seventh and eighth on the grid, and the highest-placed cars to start on the faster soft tyres.
• Williams. After bringing an upgrade to Germany and scoring points, Williams took another step forward with a strong qualifying performance in Hungary, after George Russell nearly got through to Q2 and outqualified some big names.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“We’ve already seen some remarkable speeds this year at the Hungaroring, with the fastest-ever lap already being beaten in FP3. This benchmark was lowered further in qualifying, both on the medium and on the soft tyre. The optimal tyre, in terms of flexibility, to start the race on is the medium, which is why the top three teams have all chosen it. However, every indication so far has shown that the frontrunners are extremely closely matched in terms of pace, so it's set to be an unpredictable grand prix, where the start and the pit stop strategy will be particularly important, given the difficulty of overtaking. The weather is another question mark, which could affect strategy if temperatures are much higher than they have been up to now. Congratulations to Max Verstappen on a brilliant first Formula 1 pole.”

WHAT WE LEARNED FROM FP1 AND FP2

• Although the Hungarian Grand Prix is normally associated with warm weather, today’s conditions were mixed, with intermittent light rain in both sessions that limited on-track running, as well as a brief red flag in FP2.
• All the nominated tyres for Hungary were used at various points during the day, with the exception of the Cinturato Blue full wet tyre.
• The quickest FP1 time was faster than the equivalent from last year, but the 2018 benchmark in FP2 wasn’t beaten due to the weather. The top three times in FP2 were set early in the afternoon session with the three different slick tyres: soft, medium and hard, in that order.
• The fastest overall time of the day was set by Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton in this morning’s FP1, using the soft.
• Track temperatures were down to under 30 degrees centigrade by the end of FP2, with ambient temperatures in the region of 24 degrees.
• On a short circuit such as the Hungaroring, the difference between the compounds is never especially big. There’s a very approximate difference of around 0.7 seconds between soft and medium, with an estimated gap of 0.5 seconds between medium and hard. However, the limited running made it hard to get an accurate read.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“Today it’s difficult to draw too many detailed conclusions about the weekend ahead, especially when conditions have been so mixed. Except at the start of the session, in FP2 the conditions were a bit too wet for slicks but a bit too dry for intermediates: one reason why there was comparatively limited running. The drivers will have an extra set of Cinturato Green intermediate tyres for tomorrow, after the wet running today, and they were able to learn something about the intermediates later in FP2. Nonetheless, we also saw some quicker runs in the morning on slick tyres as well as longer race runs, acquiring data that should contribute to a more accurate picture tomorrow as we head into qualifying. The teams were additionally able to gather some ideas about crossover points from slicks to inters and vice versa. All three slick tyres were used at various points today, and the indications so far suggest that all three will also be useful race tyres, depending of course on the weather – which still holds a question mark for the rest of the weekend.”