• Red Bull driver Max Verstappen claimed his second win of the season and the 10^th of his career in the sixth consecutive year that the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix has been won from pole. He followed a one-stop medium-hard strategy; the same strategy used by the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton, in second and third behind him, as well as six other drivers.
• All three compounds were seen at the start, with the top three getting away on the Yellow medium, some of those behind them on the Red soft, and a few other drivers closer to the back choosing the White hard tyre with the aim to complete a long first stint and gain track position.
• Lap 10 produced the pivotal moment in the race, when a safety car prompted the majority of the field to anticipate their stops and switch to the hard tyres, including the leaders. Ferrari was a notable exception, with both drivers staying out, as well as Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo, Haas driver Kevin Magnussen and Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi.
• Ricciardo was the highest-placed finisher to start on the hard tyre (from 11th on the grid) ending up seventh after a 39-lap stint on the white tyre.
• The race was generally a one-stopper, with just a pair of two-stoppers: Williams driver Nicholas Latifi and Magnussen. His Haas team mate Pietro Fittipaldi was the sole driver to stop three times.

HOW EACH TYRE PERFORMED

• HARD C3: Fundamental to the race. Used for the bulk of the laps, with the majority of drivers changing to them much earlier than expected, prompted by the safety car. Four drivers chose to start on the hard tyre, hoping to complete a long first stint, while 9 drivers ran it for 45 laps from the safety car to the end. It demonstrated a very low level of degradation and consistent performance.
• MEDIUM C4: The most popular tyre at the start, with 11 drivers choosing it for the first stint. It would have played an important role in the race, but the safety car limited its use. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi started on this tyre and stayed out on it during the safety car period. This compound also allowed Ricciardo to set the fastest lap of the race on the last lap.
• SOFT C5: Not used extensively, with five drivers starting the race on this compound, and seen only during the first stint – with the exception of Fittipaldi, who used it for his last stint. This compound naturally had a bit more degradation than the other two nominations.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“The race strategy was influenced heavily by the safety car, which prompted nearly everyone to anticipate their planned stops in order to lose less time in the pits. This favoured the hard tyre, which was key to the race. As a result, the drivers had to think about managing their tyres towards the race finish, but in the end the hard compound stood up extremely well to the challenge of 45 laps of running. Nonetheless, the teams generally adopted the strategies that we predicted and we saw all three compounds in action at the start. Congratulations to Max Verstappen for a dominant weekend and to Formula 1 above all for staging a fantastic 17-race calendar under extremely difficult circumstances. Now we remain in Abu Dhabi for a one-day Young Driver test on Tuesday, where we will run the 2020 tyres for the final time.”

The optimal race strategy for the 55-lap Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is a one-stopper, starting on the P Zero Yellow medium for 18 laps and moving onto P Zero White hard for 37 laps (or vice-versa). It’s also possible to do a one-stopper starting on the P Zero Red soft for 14 laps and then going onto the hard for 41 laps, but this is slightly slower in terms of overall race time.
A two-stopper is slower, especially because track position is crucial at Yas Marina, with the track being hard to overtake on and a complicated pit lane exit that adds to the time loss. The way to do it would be two soft stints of 12 laps each (one at the start and the other one as last), plus one 31-lap hard stint.

FOCUS ON

• Red Bull driver Max Verstappen claimed pole position for the season-closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, using the P Zero Red soft in C5 compound (the softest of the range) to go fastest of all in qualifying for the first time since Brazil 2019. Less than a tenth of a second separated the top three, while Verstappen was also fastest in FP3.
• Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull, Renault and the McLaren of Carlos Sainz headed out on the medium tyre in Q2, with both Mercedes, plus Verstappen, Sainz and Leclerc setting their best Q2 times on that compound. They will all therefore start the race on the yellow tyre tomorrow, but Leclerc has a grid penalty that drops him out of the top 10 on the grid.
• Temperatures were reasonably cool for Abu Dhabi, with ambient temperatures of 23 degrees centigrade and track temperatures of 29 degrees centigrade at the start of qualifying, dropping by one degree over the course of the session.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

”Qualifying is always a very important part of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with more than half the races held here having been won from pole. The medium yellow tyre is a very interesting compound to start the race on, with five of the top 10 qualifiers in Q2 setting their best times with this compound and four more trying to. We have noticed less improvement in terms of lap times in comparison to last year, perhaps also because of the absence of Formula 2 and Formula 3 support races, which means less rubber left on the track. But with the top three all starting on the medium and some very fast cars on the soft right behind them, we’re set for a tactically intriguing race: especially at the start.”

FRIDAY TYRE SUMMARY

• Valtteri Bottas set the fastest time in today’s practice ahead of his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who returned to action after he missed the Sakhir Grand Prix. Both drivers set their best times in FP2 using the P Zero Yellow medium tyre.
• Max Verstappen had led FP1 for Red Bull on the Red Soft tyre. But as is usually the case in Abu Dhabi, FP2 is the more representative session as the sun set and temperatures fell, just like in qualifying and the race.
• In FP2, the drivers also had the chance to try out one set of Pirelli’s 2021 tyres in the C4 compound. Every driver started the session on these tyres, on which they were required to complete a minimum of eight timed laps.
• The compounds currently look closely-matched, with an estimated performance gap of 0.5 seconds between the soft and medium compounds, and 0.3 seconds between the medium and the hard.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“Together with the teams we had another chance to collect some useful data during FP2 about our 2021 tyres in the C4 compound. We will now analyse this data before the tyres for next year are seen again in pre-season testing. As is normal with the schedule here in Abu Dhabi, FP2 was also the key chance for the teams to learn about the tyres ahead of the race, when the sun will be setting and the temperatures will gradually fall until the chequered flag. Track temperatures in FP1 were 12-14°C higher in comparison to FP2, making it not so relevant for qualifying and the race. We have seen gaps closer than expected between the hard and medium, making them valuable for different strategies during the race. We did notice some graining on the soft, especially on the front, but we expect this to improve over the weekend as the teams fine-tune their setups. The medium compound might play a key role for qualifying tomorrow: it will be interesting to see who will try to get through Q2 on the Yellow tyre.”

• After a disrupted season full of new venues and unexpected challenges, the year finishes in a familiar setting: the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, where the C3 will be the compound for the P Zero White hard, C4 will be the P Zero Yellow medium, and C5 will be the P Zero Red soft. This is the same nomination as last year for the evening race, which takes place a couple of weeks later than it did in 2019.
• The track surface is very smooth and about average in terms of severity. This makes the three softest tyres in the P Zero range suitable for the state-of-the-art Yas Marina circuit.
• Just as was the case at the Bahrain Grand Prix, teams will get to test some 2021 tyres during free practice on Friday. However, unlike Bahrain, these will be just one set per car of the C4 compound (Bahrain was two sets of C3) and must be used in FP2 only, for a minimum run of eight timed laps. These sets are on top of the usual weekend allocation (two sets of hard, three sets of medium, and eight sets of soft).
• There will also be a one-day post-season test on Tuesday after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, mainly dedicated to drivers who have started fewer than two grands prix but with a few notable exceptions. This test will use the current 2020 tyres.

TRACK CHARACTERISTICS

• The Yas Marina track contains a wide variety of different corners, making it a good all-round test of cars and tyres. With extensive data on this track from races and tests, the teams already have a very clear idea about the optimal set up.
• As the race starts at 5 pm in the middle of December, track temperatures will fall quite rapidly over the course of the grand prix as darkness sets in, which will therefore affect tyre behaviour. FP1 and FP3, by contrast, are both held in daylight.
• One year ago the top two in Abu Dhabi (Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen) completed the race with just one stop from medium to hard, while Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc added an extra stop for the soft tyre to finish third. The majority of drivers stopped only once, but six stopped twice.
• There will be no support races this year in Abu Dhabi – only Formula 1 – which will affect the amount of rubber laid down over the course of the weekend and consequently the track evolution.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“The teams are very familiar with the Yas Marina circuit, which should allow them to extract maximum performance straight away to decide the final championship positions. The fastest lap in the 10-year previous F1 history of the track was set last year in qualifying, so it will be interesting to see if that benchmark is lowered even further this weekend. There will also be an emphasis on testing: both with the 2021 tyres in FP2, which the teams previously tried on Friday in Bahrain nearly two weeks ago, and at the post-season test, which will take place on Tuesday after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The 2021 tyre test should provide very useful data and the post-season one should allow drivers to get familiar with the car for what will hopefully be a much more normal 2021.”

OTHER PIRELLI NEWS

• The final round of the FIA World Rally Championship, which will be exclusively supplied by Pirelli from next year, took place at the Monza Rally last weekend, using parts of the famous grand prix track. Sebastién Ogier was crowned champion, while the highest-placed Pirelli driver was Andreas Mikkelsen in 6th.
• This weekend also hosts the nine-hour final round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge, exclusively supplied by Pirelli, at Kyalami in South Africa. Porsche currently leads the manufacturer and driver standings, courtesy of Earl Bamber and Laurens Vanthoor: the winners of this year’s Spa 24 Hours.

• Racing Point’s Sergio Perez claimed his first win, using all three compounds at a dramatic Sakhir Grand Prix. Perez made his first stop on lap one, moving from the Red soft to the Yellow medium, and then completed a shorter final stint on the White hard tyre.
• Mercedes was affected by a misunderstanding under a safety car period while pitting their cars from first and second. George Russell had to immediately pit again after the wrong front tyres were fitted to his car, while Valtteri Bottas had a long stop that resulted in his original set of hard tyres being fitted again. Russell then had to pit for the fourth time with nine laps to go due to a left-rear puncture.
• A safety car after the start had the effect of slowing down the pace at a crucial point in the race, with the cars full of fuel. This lengthened the pit stop window and also played into the hands of the soft tyre runners. Perez, who was involved in a crash on the first lap, was the only driver to pit under the first lap safety car, while his team mate Lance Stroll completed the longest opening stint (42 laps) on the soft tyres.
• Track temperatures were a relatively cool 23 degrees centigrade at the start of the race, with gusting winds that blew sand onto the track from the surrounding desert, affecting grip.
• There was a wide variety of one-stop, two and three-stop strategies seen in the race. Renault’s Esteban Ocon and Racing Point’s Lance Stroll were the only two drivers to stop just once.

HOW EACH TYRE PERFORMED

• HARD C2: A key element of the race to enable a one-stopper: the strategy that Mercedes had originally selected. Its durability meant that this tyre was comfortably able to cope with some long stints if needed, as demonstrated by Ocon who only pitted once (medium to hard).
• MEDIUM C3: Around half the field chose to start on the yellow tyre, used by Stroll for a particularly long second stint as part of a one-stopper. His team mate Perez also ran this tyre for 46 laps as his middle stint.
• SOFT C4: Used to good effect by many of the drivers in the first stint, notably McLaren’s Carlos Sainz, who was briefly up to second. Russell put this tyre on for a short final stint, while some of the drivers not in the top 10 of the grid chose this tyre for the race start.

F2: SPRINT RACE HIGHLIGHTS

The entire field started on the White hard tyre, with the exception of HWA’s Artem Markelov. Carlin’s Jehan Daruvala won for the first time, in a race where rear tyre temperature management was key, in similar conditions to yesterday but with sand and tail winds providing an additional challenge. The championship went down to the wire, with Prema’s Mick Schumacher locking up at the start of the race and flat-spotting his front-right tyre, which later forced him to pit for a set of Red softs, dropping to the back of the field. His key title rival Calum Ilott (UNI-Virtuosi) – who set the fastest race lap – needed to finish in the top two and rose as high as third before dropping back when he lost grip, having pushed his hard tyres to make up as much ground as possible, while also battling Schumacher for position. 

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“A third safety car period turned the race on its head by lap 62, with some confusion in the pitlane that affected Mercedes, which had been running first and second up to that point. The cool conditions probably reduced the degradation of all the compounds, especially the soft C4, resulting in an extended opening stint and making a one-stopper possible: especially for those starting on the medium tyre. However, a two-stopper was also very effective, as Sergio Perez – who had only one set of medium tyres and one set of hard tyres available – demonstrated by using all three compounds to claim a spectacular win; having been right at the back after his first stop. With the strategy influenced heavily by safety cars, we were treated to a spectacular 20-lap sprint race at the finish, on the shortest lap seen this year. Congratulations also to Mick Schumacher for winning the Formula 2 title and keeping up the tradition of F2 champions graduating directly to Formula 1. F2 has proved to be an excellent preparation ground for the top category, and this includes tyre management. We’ve often seen thrilling and hard-fought races, as was also the case today. We were also delighted to present the F2 Driver of the Year award to Yuki Tsunoda, as voted for by media, and a scholarship cheque for €300,000 towards an F2 drive next year to F3 champion Oscar Piastri, in a ceremony after the race.”

A two-stop strategy seems set to be the fastest approach to the 87-lap Sakhir Grand Prix, which is the highest lap count of the year. While the demands on tyres are a bit less than they were at the Bahrain Grand Prix, wear and degradation is still relatively high on the abrasive surface.
The fastest two-stopper should be two stints on the P Zero Yellow medium tyre of 26 laps each, plus one 35-lap stint on the P Zero White hard tyre (which could be the middle stint).
Alternatively, another good two-stopper would be one 21-lap stint on the P Zero Red soft plus two stints on the hard tyre of 33 laps each. Very close to that is a strategy with 25 laps on the medium and two stints of 31 laps each on the hard.
What’s slower is using all three tyres: 23 laps on the soft, 27 laps on the medium, and 37 laps on the hard.
All of the above stints can be run in any order, and with the two frontrunners starting on the medium tyre, they have plenty of options – depending on the actual degradation rates that they encounter during the race, with track temperatures capable of falling over the course of the night race.

FOCUS ON

• Strategy. Seven drivers ran the P Zero Yellow medium tyres in Q2, but the Mercedes drivers were the only ones to set their fastest times on this compound – meaning they will start on it tomorrow – with Valtteri Bottas on pole and his team mate George Russell second.
• Tactics. Both AlphaTauri cars ran the medium tyres at the start of the final Q3 session, preserving a new set of softs for the final decisive run.
• Rapid laps. This was the shortest timed pole lap in Formula 1 since Ferrari driver Niki Lauda took pole for the 1974 French Grand Prix at Dijon. The short lap meant that finding a clear lap in the traffic was essential in qualifying, and this will be an issue in the race tomorrow as well.
• Temperatures. Track temperatures for qualifying were similar to how they had been in FP3 (where Red Bull’s Max Verstappen went fastest) at 26 degrees centigrade.

F2: FEATURE RACE HIGHLIGHTS

The race hinged on strategy, with title favourite Mick Schumacher (Prema) starting from an unaccustomed 18th on the grid and choosing the alternative strategy: hard to soft, along with seven other drivers. His key title rival, Calum Ilott (Uni-Virtuosi) followed the more conventional strategy, from soft to hard with a shorter first stint. After his pit-stop, Schumacher used the extra speed of the soft to claim seventh by the finish and start second on the grid tomorrow. Carlin’s Yuki Tsunoda fought back to win the race, having started on pole with a soft-hard strategy, while Uni-Virtuosi’s Guanyu Zhou was second using the same strategy as Schumacher. Degradation between the two compounds was low, while managing overheating was the main challenge. The grip level between compounds was a linear step, in line with expectations.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“It was a very open qualifying session because of the very short lap, which meant that traffic was an issue and any mistakes were magnified, with the cars being so close together. Finding a gap was crucial, and all three sessions were extremely closely-fought, which should make for an exciting race tomorrow. The two Mercedes in first and second will be the only ones in the top 10 starting on the Yellow medium tyre, so it will be fascinating to see if they can turn that into an advantage for the Sakhir Grand Prix; especially at the start, with so many cars on the faster soft tyre immediately around them. All three compounds performed well, with a two-stopper set to be the quickest choice for tomorrow. Formula 2 came down to a brilliant strategic battle that revolved around tyre choice: both title protagonists qualified lower down than they expected but made opposite tactical decisions to address the issue. As a result, the driver’s championship battle goes down to the final race – typical of the close competition we have seen in F2 all year – while we’d like to congratulate Prema for winning the teams’ title today”.

FRIDAY TYRE SUMMARY

• The shortest timed lap in Formula 1 history – less than 55 seconds – was set in FP1 at the Sakhir Grand Prix by George Russell on the P Zero Red soft tyre. On his debut for Mercedes, the Englishman also went fastest in FP2, again on the soft. Russell was one of three new driver and car combinations taking part this weekend, along with Pietro Fittipaldi (Haas) and Jack Aitken (Williams).
• The lap times in FP2 were generally slightly slower than in FP1, due to track limits being enforced in Turn 8.
• With the shortest lap of the year bar Monaco, this was also among the closest tyre gaps in terms of performance. There’s around 0.4 seconds between soft and P Zero Yellow medium so far, with approximately 0.3 seconds between medium and P Zero White hard.
• Temperatures remained cool by normal Bahrain standards, with the FP2 session taking place in 25 degrees centigrade ambient, with just one degree more of track temperature.
• While there’s less energy going through the tyres on the Bahrain Sakhir lap compared to the full grand prix circuit, two stops still seems to be the most likely option for the race on this abrasive surface.

F2: LATEST NEWS

Free practice took place only on the hard tyre, but the drivers switched to the soft tyre – nominated for the Sakhir Grand Prix – for qualifying: a step softer than the medium that was the softest choice in Bahrain last weekend. The traffic caused by having 22 cars on this short track meant that drivers struggled to get a clear lap, but a collision resulted in title favourite Mick Schumacher (Prema) starting from 18^th for tomorrow’s Feature Race while Carlin’s Yuki Tsunoda claimed pole. Unlike F1, none of the drivers are obliged to start on the tyre they qualified with.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“With such a short lap here and the field bunched up, the margins are more closely balanced: including the performance gap between the tyres. As this is effectively a brand new venue, it was important for teams to gather as much data as possible to compare the performance of all three compounds and formulate the optimal strategy. We’ve seen less degradation so far than we did at the previous round in Bahrain last weekend. As a result, the soft C4 tyre can be used more extensively than it was a week ago on the longer circuit. In Formula 2, the drivers got used to a brand new tyre nomination, with the soft tyre chosen for this weekend alongside the hard. This makes for a notable speed and durability discrepancy, which will heavily influence the race strategy. We’ve seen today that traffic on the short lap is definitely an issue, and that’s sure to influence Formula 1 qualifying tomorrow”.

• The race had to be restarted after more than an hour’s delay for barrier repairs following a massive accident for Haas driver Romain Grosjean, from which he thankfully emerged with only minor injuries.
• The re-start rules allowed teams to make repairs and change tyres. Only four drivers chose not to change tyres: Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes), Daniel Ricciardo (Renault) and Lando Norris (McLaren).
• After the re-start (which counted from lap three) the top nine were all on the medium tyre, with AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly the highest-placed driver on hard in 10^th.
• There was a safety car after the re-start. This had the effect of lengthening the stints – also considering the relatively cool temperatures of 25 degrees ambient and 26 degrees on track – by reducing thermal degradation as well as wear.
• Hamilton won the race from pole with a two-stop strategy, re-starting on the same P Zero Yellow medium tyres as he had on the original grid, switching to used mediums once more after 19 laps, and finishing with a 22-lap stint on the P Zero White hard. He took the chequered flag under the safety car.
• Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who finished second, adopted a different strategy, using White hard new tyres for two middle stints before finishing on used mediums. He was the only driver – apart from Haas’s Kevin Magnussen – who changed tyres four times.
• The three compounds selected for this year were one step softer than those seen in Bahrain last year, contributing to a higher than usual number of pit stops.

HOW EACH TYRE PERFORMED

• HARD C2: Used by all but six of the finishers for the final stint, showing both pace and strength on the abrasive Bahrain asphalt. Gasly used two sets of hards for every lap of the race apart from one, to finish sixth.
• MEDIUM C3: Very much the compound of the day. Selected by most of the drivers (the top 10 on the grid went through Q2 with this compound) for the opening stint, with a good balance between performance and durability. Used by Hamilton for more than half the race, with Verstappen taking a final set of mediums 11 laps from the end to score the extra championship point for fastest lap of the race.
• SOFT C4: McLaren’s Carlos Sainz was the only driver to select the Red soft for the original start and he was joined by AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat for the second start. This performed well in the cool conditions, taking Sainz to P3 before his first stop and P5 at the finish from 15^th on the original grid.

F2: SPRINT RACE HIGHLIGHTS

Reigning Formula 3 champion Robert Shwartzman (Prema) won the 23-lap Sprint Race from pole position on a set of hard tyres, but although pit stops are not compulsory there was an exciting tactical element after an early safety car prompted a number of drivers to pit on lap six, before a virtual safety car on lap nine. One of them was Charouz’s Louis Deletraz, who started on the medium tyres from 16th and then swapped to a new set of hards. This gave him plenty of pace in the closing stages and a number of strong passing manoeuvres elevated him to third at the finish. Prema’s Mick Schumacher finished seventh, meaning that he takes a 14-point championship lead into the final two rounds next weekend on Bahrain’s ‘oval’ course.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“First and obviously foremost, we’re just relieved that Romain Grosjean seems to have only minor injuries after the massive accident on the opening lap. Everything else that happened today is irrelevant in comparison, and it speaks so much about modern safety standards that this accident was survivable. In terms of the race, strategies were obviously influenced by the lengthy interruptions, with the delayed race taking place later in the evening. This meant that the soft tyre performed more strongly than anticipated, as Carlos Sainz showed in his first stint after the re-start, while the medium tyre stints could be extended too. This was demonstrated by Hamilton, who completed two quite long stints on it before finishing on the hard. Throughout the race, we saw a variety of different strategies, with Gasly stopping twice for two sets of hard tyres on his way to P6, for example. In Formula 2, tyre management was crucial, with the medium tyre playing a key role for some drivers. Deletraz was the only driver to start on medium before switching to hards, and he made this strategy work perfectly, resulting in one of those fightbacks through the field that have become a hallmark of Formula 2.”

With the abrasive granite surface of Sakhir, and a softer tyre nomination compared to last year, a two-stop strategy looks set to be the quickest way to tackle the 57-lap Bahrain Grand Prix.
The fastest two-stopper involves one stint on the P Zero Yellow medium for 21 laps, (set to be the opening stint for those in the top 10 of the grid) plus two stints on the P Zero Red soft tyre of 18 laps each.
The second-quickest two-stopper instead uses the medium for two 21-lap stints and the soft for 15 laps.
A medium-hard one stopper is slower: this would use the medium for 27 laps and the hard for 30 laps.
Finally, there’s the slowest two-stopper: two stints on the medium of 18 laps with one stint on the White hard of 21 laps (probably the middle stint). There’s no real point in going for a three-stopper, as this costs too much time in the pits.

FOCUS ON

• Strategy. All the top 10 on the grid chose to go through Q2 on the P Zero Yellow medium tyre and therefore start on this compound, which should cope well with the high-wear characteristics of Sakhir and allow them to run a longer first stint. As usual, those starting from P11 downwards will get a free choice of tyres.
• Speed. Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton set a new track record twice in qualifying: during Q2 with the P Zero Yellow medium and then again with the P Zero Red soft in Q3 to seal pole.
• Wear. The rough surface of the Bahrain circuit takes a lot out of the tyres, meaning that a two-stopper is most likely but drivers will still have to manage their tyres carefully: particularly the rear softs.
• Temperatures. Both ambient and track temperatures were 27 degrees centigrade halfway through the session: relatively cool for Bahrain compared to previous years when the race was held much earlier in the season.

F2: FEATURE RACE HIGHLIGHTS

Strategy was a talking point of the Formula 2 Feature Race, with UNI-Virtuosi’s polesitter Callum Ilott and eventual winner Felipe Drugovich (MP Motorsport) starting first and second on the medium tyre, while most other drivers began the race on the hard. Drugovich got past Ilott at the first corner and was able to go three laps longer than his rival before pitting for the hard on lap 15 of 32. Ilott was still able to get past him for the race lead on Drugovich’s out lap, but once they were up to temperature, the Brazilian’s pace on fresh hards was enough to make a pass for the lead with 13 laps to go. The eventual runner-up spot for Ilott meant that he again drew closer to Prema’s Mick Schumacher (who finished fourth) in the championship standings. Carlin’s Yuki Tsunoda was one of the stars of the race, going from 22^nd to sixth using a hard-medium strategy with a relatively long first stint.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“The strategy for this race really began in Q2, with nearly all the drivers coming out on medium tyres, before a red flag stoppage with nine minutes remaining meant that there was only one run left to make it count. With the top 10 all starting on the Yellow medium tyre tomorrow, they have some options as to which compound to run during the second stint. We saw in qualifying that the pace of the soft and the medium is closely matched, however the medium is easier to manage in terms of rear overheating, which is why it was selected in Q2. We also saw that Hamilton was able to break the track record not once but twice, on two different compounds, which confirms the ever-increasing speed of the current Formula 1 cars. In Formula 2 earlier, there was another strategic race with plenty of overtaking that keeps the title battle well and truly alive.”

FRIDAY TYRE SUMMARY

• Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton was fastest in both sessions: in FP1 on the P Zero Yellow medium tyre and then in FP2 on the Red soft tyre (this year in the C4 compound for Bahrain).
• During both sessions, drivers also had the chance to try out Pirelli’s 2021 tyres, in C3 compound. It was compulsory to run the new tyres in FP2 (for a minimum run of six laps) while teams also had the option to run them in FP1 if they wished. All the drivers ran them in both sessions.
• The tyre gap is not easy to define because today’s running was somewhat influenced by the 2021 tyre tests and a red flag stoppage. However, the estimated gap is currently around 0.6 seconds between hard and medium, with the same difference between medium and soft.
• The FP1 session was more representative than usual, with temperatures in both sessions being quite similar.

F2: LATEST NEWS

Free practice in Formula 2 was affected by some drops of rain and interrupted by red flags, which meant that the teams didn’t get much of a chance to adapt to the P Zero hard and medium tyres that had been nominated for this weekend ahead of qualifying. During qualifying, all the teams ran on medium tyres, with traffic and red flags limiting the timed lap attempts. Pole position for UNI-Virtuosi’s Callum Ilott keeps the F2 title fight alive, as the Englishman reduced Mick Schumacher’s championship advantage heading into the final four races.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“In comparison to last season, this was a more aggressive nomination by bringing the compounds in the middle of the range to Bahrain, with the softest choice being the C4 compound this year. It was quite a busy couple of sessions today, with each car running two sets of our 2021 tyres in C3 compound during both FP1 and FP2, allowing both us and the teams to collect plenty of data on new and used examples of these tyres. Now we have plenty of information to analyse before trying these 2021 tyres again in Abu Dhabi. Coming back to Bahrain this weekend, compared to the usual calendar slot earlier in the year, we had quite similar conditions in FP1 and FP2: with track temperatures around 26 degrees in both sessions. This gave teams the chance to test the tyres in conditions more similar to the race, and perhaps concentrate more on race pace. All the tyres performed in line with expectations today, considering also that the track was quite slippery. The soft compound showed no graining, but as is usual in Bahrain, it will be particularly crucial to manage the rear tyres to prevent them overheating.”

• The Bahrain International Circuit will host two distinct challenges on consecutive weekends, but using the same tyre choice: C2 as the P Zero White hard, C3 as the P Zero Yellow medium, and C4 as the P Zero Red soft.
• This year’s nomination is a step softer than last year’s, where the vast majority of the drivers stopped twice at the Bahrain Grand Prix. This was because drivers focussed on only the two softer compounds nominated in 2019, feeling that the C1 was too hard. As a result, the softer nomination this year should bring all three compounds into play.
• The first weekend is the Bahrain Grand Prix, held on the usual Bahrain International Circuit layout during the late afternoon and evening. The following weekend is the Sakhir Grand Prix, held at night on a unique short oval-style outer circuit with only 11 corners, where the lap time is expected to be less than a minute. At 87 laps, this will also be the highest lap count of the year.
• The tyres therefore have to cope with two different challenges, which combine some of the most abrasive asphalt seen all season with some of the highest average lap speeds of the year (at the Sakhir Grand Prix). Tyres in the middle of the range have been selected to cope with this very varied range of demands.
• At the first race, the Bahrain Grand Prix, the teams will have two sets of 2021 C3 tyre to sample on Friday for each car, on top of the usual allocation for the weekend (two sets of the hard, three sets of the medium, and eight of the soft). There will be a similar opportunity in FP2 at the season-closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix with a set of C4 tyres for each driver.

BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX – TRACK CHARACTERISTICS

SAKHIR GRAND PRIX – TRACK CHARACTERISTICS

• This is the very first time that Bahrain has taken place so late in the season, but temperatures at the start and the end of the year are quite similar, so data from previous races should still be relevant. One risk present all year round is sand blowing onto the circuit from the surrounding desert, which can make the surface dirty and reduce grip.
• Sakhir is a medium severity circuit with a focus on traction and braking rather than lateral loads and the 3.543-kilometre outer circuit – set to be among the fastest in Formula 1, with a predicted average speed of around 230kph – should be a bit less demanding on tyres than the standard circuit. The drivers will work hard though as the short lap will mean a lot of traffic that could make qualifying and overtaking tricky.
• There will be quite a different approach to free practice at each race. For the Bahrain Grand Prix, two of the three free sessions are held in the heat of the day, so aren’t especially relevant to qualifying and the race. The same is true of the Sakhir Grand Prix, but as this is not only a new track but a totally new style of circuit, the teams will need to collect as much tyre and car data as they can by maximising every session.

F2: WHAT TO EXPECT

The Formula 2 season will conclude with back-to-back rounds supporting the two F1 races in Bahrain. The P Zero White hard tyres are nominated for both events, alongside the P Zero Yellow medium for the first round and P Zero Red soft for the following weekend. This gives teams and drivers another variable to adapt to between events, in addition to the change of layout.
The F2 field tested in Bahrain back in March, when they ran the new 18-inch tyres introduced for 2020 for the first time. After the second race, Sakhir will host another F2 test session.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“We get to experience something quite different during both weekends in Bahrain. Perhaps the most interesting challenge will be the Sakhir Grand Prix, as it’s not like any other circuit where we have raced before: even though it uses about half of the standard grand prix track. While there’s some simulation data already, we need to wait for real data from free practice to understand the exact effect on wear, degradation, and therefore strategy. On top of that, we’re bringing tyres that are a step softer than last year, which open up more opportunities in terms of strategy. During the first weekend drivers will run the new 2021 tyres on Friday with the C3 compound, getting a first proper taste of the rubber they will use next year. Formula 2 is also back for the final round alongside F1, in a pair of races with different tyre nominations that will decide the title”.

FORMULA 1 GULF AIR BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX 2020

FORMULA 1 ROLEX SAKHIR GRAND PRIX 2020

OTHER PIRELLI NEWS

• The GT World Challenge Europe, exclusively supplied by Pirelli, has concluded with the six-hour race. Alessandro Pier Guidi was crowned champion of the Endurance Cup, driving for Ferrari.

• Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton was crowned world champion for a record-equalling seventh time, his fourth title in a row, after winning an incredibly tricky Turkish Grand Prix. Hamilton used the Cinturato Blue full wet tyres for eight laps followed by the Cinturato Green intermediates for 50 laps – one of only three drivers (with Racing Point’s Sergio Perez and AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat) to stop just once.
• The entire field started on the Cinturato Blue full wet tyres, apart from the two Williams cars, which started on the Cinturato Green intermediate.
• The crossover point – at which time it became faster to switch to the intermediates – was reached within 10 laps of the race start, prompting a flurry of pit stops onto the intermediate. Most drivers then stopped again, for fresh intermediates.
• Williams driver George Russell completed the longest first stint on his starting set of intermediates, running them for 32 laps. Hamilton ran his second stint on the intermediates for 50 laps in the race, Perez for 48.
• The weather remained cool all day, with track and ambient temperatures in the region of 13 degrees centigrade, and rain before the race start. Conditions dried out throughout the race, but nobody decided to use the slicks – due to a slippery track and with a risk of rain predicted for the end of the race that never quite materialised.

HOW EACH TYRE PERFORMED

• INTERMEDIATE: Used for the bulk of the race, but the Williams drivers were the only one to start on this compound. Used by all the drivers for their second stint: the wear on this tyre determined the timing of the second pit stop. Hamilton however ran 50 laps on them in the race – although the true number is 53, as this was a used set.
• WET: The default option for nearly everyone at the start of the race, but used for only about 10 of the 58 laps. Red Bull’s Alex Albon stayed out longest on this compound, completing 12 laps on his first stint.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“Congratulations to Lewis Hamilton for an incredible seventh world title taken in real style from sixth on the grid, where managing his tyres brilliantly was paramount to ensure his place in history. He made just one stop and effectively turned his intermediate tyres into slicks by the end of the race, to extract the very maximum from them. From the beginning it was clear that this was going to be a very complicated race where managing the start in the wet and subsequently dealing with uncertain conditions on a drying track would be crucial, and this proved to be exactly the case. Judging the crossover point was key, both from wets to inters after the start, and then – in the second half of the race – working out whether or not the surface would provide enough grip to switch to slicks, or if the best option was another set of intermediates for the second stint. Assessing the crossover point from wets to intermediate was relatively straightforward using the data from yesterday; however deciding what to do for the second stop was much more complicated in these very unusual conditions”.

This is one of the hardest races to predict a strategy for, owing to a number of different factors. First and foremost, track conditions. This asphalt is extremely new and slippery, with rapid evolution, but how much grip it will ultimately offer remains unknown. The weather makes those calculations considerably harder, with very cool track temperatures and rain today, while tomorrow’s conditions are still uncertain. Finally, there’s not much difference between a two-stopper and one-stopper.
On paper, a two-stopper is quicker – but teams always prefer a one-stopper, especially if they can somehow manage to do it on the two softer compounds this weekend. Right now, that seems almost impossible if graining on the soft stays the same as it’s been so far, but some teams might still try it. Alternatively, they might still go for a one-stopper using the White hard compound, if they can get it to work. All that obviously depends on what tomorrow’s race conditions will look like, so there are plenty of question marks.
In theory, a two-stopper is quickest: with two stints of 16 laps on the Red soft plus a Yellow medium stint of 26 laps (perhaps as the middle stint). Another way of doing it, if there’s graining on the soft, is just one 14-lap stint on the red tyre with two 22-lap stints on the medium.
If it’s warm enough to switch on the hard compound, the teams could try a one-stopper with 30 laps on medium and 28 laps on hard. Alternatively, 20 laps on soft and 38 laps on hard.

FOCUS ON

• Wet weather characterised today’s action at Istanbul Park, both in free practice and qualifying, causing a 45-minute delay with just over six minutes of Q1 remaining, followed by another red flag three minutes later. A mix of intermediate and full wet tyres were used throughout all three qualifying sessions, with pole set using the intermediate tyre on the final run of Q3.
• This made an already slippery track even more challenging, allied to the cool track temperatures of just 12 degrees centigrade.
• Red Bull’s Max Verstappen went quickest in every session so far this weekend (in both wet and dry conditions) apart from the crucial Q3 session, when Racing Point’s Lance Stroll dramatically took pole ahead of him.
• As per the rules, the car set-up cannot now be changed even though tomorrow’s race conditions could be quite different.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“The conditions meant that it was hard to draw many conclusions from today, with extremely low levels of grip, cool temperatures, and rain. We only saw the intermediate and full wet tyres used in FP3 and qualifying, with the pole position time set on the Green intermediate as the crossover point was reached during Q3, triggering a tense strategic battle. The marginal conditions and frequent interruptions made driving extremely challenging today, although the characteristics of both the intermediate and Blue full wet meant that there was plenty of opportunity for the drivers to run as many laps as they wanted with the allocation available, as tyre wear in these conditions is very low. As is often the case when it’s like this, we have quite a mixed grid for tomorrow, when we expect conditions to be dry. Added to a slippery track and the several options available in terms of strategy – now that all the drivers have a free choice of starting tyres if it’s dry – we can look forward to an unpredictable race tomorrow, with several unknown factors to spice up the action. Congratulations to Racing Point for taking the initiative to switch to intermediate tyres first, and then claiming first and third on the grid”.

FRIDAY TYRE SUMMARY

• Istanbul Park’s return to Formula 1 after nine years was characterised by slippery new asphalt and a slightly damp surface in FP1, with cool track temperatures of less than 20 degrees centigrade in FP2. This made it hard to find grip and caused plenty of sliding, with some graining mainly on soft. Tyre wear and degradation was extremely low.
• As a result, the lap times remained slower than was expected from the predicted simulations supplied by the teams.
• All three compounds were tested, with the teams mostly running the P Zero White Hard tyre in the morning, before completing the afternoon runs on the Red soft tyre, having also used the Yellow medium in FP2.
• The estimated performance gap between the tyres is quite closely matched: around 0.9 seconds between the soft and medium, and 0.8 seconds between medium and hard.
• Red Bull was fastest in both sessions, with Max Verstappen going quickest each time. More than five seconds separated the fastest and slowest car in FP2.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“The new asphalt at Istanbul Park, which is less than two weeks old, proved to be extremely slippery. In fact, we expected something more similar to Portugal, but in fact it was quite different with very little grip. There was a high amount of track evolution despite having no support races here. On top of that, the track surface was washed overnight, leading to some areas that were slightly damp this morning. We saw a bit of graining on the soft as expected in these extreme conditions due to the cars sliding; this situation should improve during the weekend as more rubber gets laid down, drivers get more heat into their tyres, and the track continues to evolve. However, we need to keep an eye on the weather too; there’s a possibility of rain at some point during the weekend that could reset the track conditions and add to what is already a very big challenge.”

• For Formula 1’s first visit to Istanbul Park since 2011 (Pirelli’s debut season in F1 of the modern era) the Italian firm has chosen the three hardest compounds in the range: C1 as the P Zero White hard, C2 as the P Zero Yellow medium, and C3 as the P Zero Red soft.
• For the second time this year -as was the case in Portugal, the standard allocation of tyres has been slightly modified: the drivers will all get seven sets of soft, three sets of medium, and three sets of hard. Normally, it’s eight softs, three mediums and two hards – but Turkey is so demanding that more of the harder compounds have been supplied: tyre stress as well as traction, downforce and lateral force are all very high.
• The renowned Turn 8 is famously demanding: a very long multi-apex left-hander that’s quite similar to Turn 3 at Sochi (which it inspired) and puts a huge amount of energy through the tyres, particularly the front-right.
• The surface has been re-asphalted very recently and nobody knows exactly what the new asphalt will be like. In the absence of precise data regarding the new asphalt, a more conservative choice has been made.
• Last but not least, there won’t be any support events throughout the weekend, which means that the track might be very “green” and dirty: especially on Friday.

TRACK CHARACTERISTICS

• The Istanbul Park track is known as one of Hermann Tilke’s finest designs, with a wide variety of interesting high-speed corners, which take a lot out of the tyres. At the last grand prix there nine years ago, Sebastian Vettel had to make four pit stops en route to victory for Red Bull. In total, there were 80 pit stops during the 2011 grand prix and the highest number of overtaking manoeuvres seen in a dry race since 1983.
• Turn 1 is another notable corner, while the straight also features a spectacular uphill kink that has similarities to Eau Rouge at Spa: in fact, this part of the track is often nicknamed ‘faux rouge’.
• Located on the Asian side of Istanbul, the circuit was not used extensively since 2011 and so has undergone safety modifications to bring it up to current Formula 1 standards. As well as some racing, it has also been used recently for the World Rallycross Championship.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“Turkey is yet another new venue on this fascinating 2020 Formula 1 calendar, and although it’s a place that we’ve been to before, to all intents and purposes we can consider it as a brand new circuit for us: especially as we don’t have experience of the new asphalt. For tyres, we expect Turkey to be a challenge in terms of energy loads, which is why we have shifted the allocations towards the harder compounds – just as we did in Portimao, even though the new asphalt might be less severe than we were expecting. As has often been the case this year, the information gathered in free practice will be absolutely crucial, in terms of assessing not only degradation, but especially wear on such a demanding layout. Of course, no mention of Istanbul Park would be complete without talking about Turn 8: which this year will probably be taken flat-out by the latest generation of high-downforce Formula 1 cars, increasing the loads on the tyres accordingly. It’s not going to be an easy race for them, so finding the right level of tyre management will be critical.”

OTHER PIRELLI NEWS

• The final round of the GT World Challenge Europe, exclusively supplied by Pirelli, takes place at Paul Ricard in France during the same weekend as the Turkish Grand Prix. Audi currently leads the standings ahead of the 1000-kilometre race.
• The latest event of the European Rally Championship, in Hungary, was won by the Pirelli-equipped crew of Andreas Mikkelsen and Ola Fløene in a Skoda Fabia.
• Pirelli will supply the recently-announced Formula Regional European by Alpine from next year: a new entry-level category that’s a merge between Formula Renault Eurocup and Formula Regional Europe.

• Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton took a step closer to a seventh world title by winning the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix using a two-stop strategy. Mercedes clinched the 2020 constructors’ title with a double podium, after Valtteri Bottas finished second: mathematically the only man who can now deprive Hamilton of the title. Both drivers ran all three compounds after a late safety car.
• Hamilton’s win was secured thanks to an overcut strategy, where he completed a longer first stint than his direct rivals on the P Zero Yellow medium tyre, while pumping in some fast laps before his pit stop. He made his first stop onto P Zero White hard tyres under a virtual safety car, which helped him to pit without losing the lead.
• During a final safety car period with 10 laps to go, the majority of drivers pitted once more, including Hamilton and Bottas, who went onto the P Zero Red Soft tyre for the final stint.
• Most drivers selected a one-stop strategy, which then become a two-stopper as a result of the safety car. The highest-placed driver to start on the soft tyre was Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo, on the podium in third.
• The weather remained temperate throughout the race, starting in 21 degrees centigrade ambient, with 24 degrees of track temperature.

HOW EACH TYRE PERFORMED

• HARD C2: Used by nearly all the drivers throughout the race apart from the McLaren and Alfa Romeo duo. Ricciardo and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc ran a particularly long second stint on the hard, stopping just once. This compound was very consistent, as per expectations.
• MEDIUM C3: Chosen by the majority of drivers to take the start, including the two Mercedes on the front row. Ran some long stints at the beginning of the race, with Hamilton completing 30 laps on his starting set. Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen used them for 49 laps, pitting from fourth place with 14 laps to go, while his team mate went even longer (53 laps). As was also the case in Portugal, this compound demonstrated very good performance and consistency.
• SOFT C4: Showed plenty of pace at the start of the race, with Ricciardo getting ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to lead the soft tyre runners throughout the first stint. AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat used a soft-hard-soft strategy to finish fourth. Some graining was seen initially on the soft but this improved as the race went on.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“The safety car late in the race influenced the strategy heavily: up until then it was looking like one stop for the majority of drivers; also because there is a big pit stop time loss at Imola. Due to some graining seen on the soft, the previously envisaged strategies involving the soft then largely changed in favour of a medium to hard strategy. The medium tyre was chosen by the top two to start the race on, and showed minimal degradation even over very long stints. The hard tyre was also run by many drivers in excess of 40 laps. Obviously we need to look at the hard tyre that had completed 32 laps with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to understand exactly what happened; it seems that some debris on the track could have caused a puncture. Congratulations to Mercedes for clinching their record seventh consecutive manufacturers’ championship: once more after an intensely strategic race, where Hamilton was able to take perfect advantage of the virtual safety car.”

Possible race strategies

Calculating the tyre gap and optimal race strategies for the 63-lap Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix hasn’t been easy, as the teams don’t have previous experience of the track and there was only one (90-minute) free practice session this morning. This free practice session was also held from 10:00-11:30, which means that it won’t be completely representative of the warmer afternoon conditions for the race.
Currently, there’s a gap of around 0.5 seconds between the P Zero White hard and and P Zero Yellow medium, and 0.6 seconds between the medium and P Zero Red soft.
In terms of strategy, a one-stopper looks set to be fastest. The optimal one-stop strategy uses the medium and soft tyres: soft for 28 to 30 laps and medium for 33 to 35 laps (either way round). Very close to that is a soft to hard strategy: soft for 24 to 27 laps and hard for 36 to 39 laps (or vice versa).
Third-quickest is medium for 26 to 35 laps and hard for 28 to 37 laps. This strategy has the advantage of featuring a wider pit stop window.
A two-stop strategy is slower, but the best one is with two stints on soft of 18 laps, plus one stint on medium of 27 laps.

FOCUS ON

• Strategy. Both Mercedes cars as well as the Red Bull of Max Verstappen set their best Q2 times on the medium tyre, and will consequently start the race on this compound.
• Track temperatures. Qualifying began with 23 degrees ambient and nearly 30 degrees of track temperature. Similar conditions are expected for the race but none of the drivers have completed long runs in representative conditions.
• Pit stops. With a comparative lack of pre-race data from the single practice session, initial information suggests that the overall race time between a one-stop and two-stop strategy could be reasonably close. As a result, we’re likely to see both one-stoppers as well as two-stoppers tomorrow, as teams try to gain a tactical advantage from doing something different.
• Track evolution. With only one day of running prior to the race and only few support events, the track was very ‘green’ initially. There was plenty of evolution today and a similar trend is expected tomorrow.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“The teams were able to capture most of the tyre data they needed from the single 90-minute practice session, sometimes by splitting the tyre assessment programmes over their two cars. There is still considerably less tyre data than there would be from a ‘conventional’ weekend, which leaves some question marks over strategy heading into the race and opens up some more options tomorrow, especially with the track evolving all the time. The teams will have a busier Saturday evening than usual analysing the performance gaps between the tyres, and working out how this can translate into an optimal race strategy. As for the tyres, we had a little bit of graining during the early part of the day, but the situation improved as expected with more running. All three compounds look set to play an important role in the race and we are satisfied with their performance.”

• For the last of an unprecedented three races in Italy this year, Formula 1 returns to Imola for the first time since 2006. The middle three tyres in the range have been chosen: C2 as the P Zero White hard, C3 as the P Zero Yellow medium, and C4 as the P Zero Red soft.
• This race weekend, back-to-back with Portimao, has a very different look to it with no Friday action and just a single 90-minute practice session on Saturday before qualifying. As a result, the tyre quantities have been adjusted. Instead of the usual 13, there will be 10 sets of tyres available to each driver for the whole weekend: two sets of hard, two sets of medium and six sets of soft.
• Drivers will have to give back three sets of tyres after this session, leaving the same number of sets available for qualifying and the race as a standard event. The intermediate and wet tyre allocation remains unaffected.
• The middle tyres in the range have been chosen to suit the characteristics of Imola: a famously technical track with a wide range of different corners that tests every aspect of a car’s performance.

TRACK CHARACTERISTICS

• Like many historic circuits across Europe, Imola was originally created as a road course just after the Second World War, before becoming a permanent circuit that first hosted a (non-championship) Formula 1 race in 1963.
• It has been continuously developed since then, with a number of modifications implemented since Formula 1 last raced there 14 years ago. The old Variante Bassa is gone and the long straight heading into Tamburello is now broken up by two right-hand corners. More run-off areas have been added, especially at Variante Alta, and there are new pit garages too: only the old Marlboro tower remains from the previous start-finish complex.
• Unusually, Imola is an anti-clockwise circuit, with 12 left-hand corners and nine right-hand corners. In contrast to Portimao, the circuit width is quite narrow in places, which makes overtaking reasonably tricky and puts a strong emphasis on race strategy.
• The circuit has been re-asphalted since F1 last race there, meaning that the asphalt is generally quite smooth, and doesn’t put too much stress on the tyres. Because of this, tyres in the middle of the range have been chosen, well-suited to the average demands.
• However, the surface is still quite bumpy and there are some big kerbs, meaning that it’s important to find an adaptable set-up and stick to the racing line. The last Formula 1 team to drive at Imola was AlphaTauri, which used the track for a filming day (plus some testing with an old car) over the summer before the 2020 season re-started in Austria. However, this is the first time that the current generation of turbo hybrid cars will race at Imola.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“The tests we carried out last weekend in Portimao to assess 2021 tyre specifications went well, as expected. We are now analysing all the data collected, because by November 1st we have to nominate the definitive specification for next year. This weekend at Imola, there’s going to be a lot to get used to in a short space of time. After travelling back from Portugal the teams have to cope with a new race weekend format and reduced practice time on what will be a brand new track for most of the drivers – although inadvertently, they practised this exact scenario at the Nurburgring recently. As you would expect on a circuit with so much history, Imola has an old-school feel to it like Mugello, and we believe that the drivers are going to love racing there. Finding the right set-up as quickly as possible is going to be key to success, as the technical nature of the track means that a number of important compromises have to be made, so it’s always tricky to find the right balance. Overtaking could be quite tricky and the weather at this time of year is unpredictable, so strategy is set to play an important role – but that strategy has to be flexible enough to adapt itself to changing circumstances.”

OTHER PIRELLI NEWS

• The Spa 24 Hours, Pirelli’s biggest motorsport event of the year, was won by Nick Tandy, Earl Bamber, and Laurens Vanthoor in a Porsche. The race was interrupted by several red flags, with the majority of the race running in the dark on Pirelli’s wet-weather Cinturato tyres. In total, Pirelli fitted around 12,000 tyres with a team of 65 fitters.
• Pirelli has completed its initial World Rally Championship outdoor testing programme with around 1400 kilometres covered – equivalent to the competitive distance of nearly five WRC rallies.

• Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton is now the most successful Formula 1 driver of all time, having taken his 92^nd career win with a one-stop medium-hard strategy: predicted as the fastest tactic, despite a relative lack of pre-race running.
• All three Pirelli compounds performed well despite the big challenges of the weather and the track, with a particularly impressive performance from the P Zero Yellow medium. Renault’s Esteban Ocon racked up 53 laps on it while Hamilton completed 45 laps (40 in race plus 5 in Q2) on this compound, with excellent consistency.
• His team mate Valtteri Bottas, who finished second, ran an identical strategy, stopping one lap later.
• Behind them, there was plenty of variation in strategy: with four different strategies in the top 10.
• Most drivers stopped once but there were five two-stoppers – three of them using all three compounds - including Racing Point’s Sergio Perez, who finished seventh despite having to stop on lap one following some contact.
• The weather remained quite cool for most of the day, with track temperatures in the region of 25 degrees centigrade and a few drops of rain just after the race start, as well as towards the end of the grand prix.

HOW EACH TYRE PERFORMED

• HARD C1: Used by the Mercedes drivers for the second stint, taking two laps to warm up but then, and providing extremely strong performance as shown by Hamilton with his fastest lap at the end of the race. Haas driver Kevin Magnussen was the only driver to start on this compound.
• MEDIUM C2: Played a key role in the race. Used to set pole and chosen by just over half the drivers to take the start, this tyre was capable of some very long stints, providing an excellent balance between performance and durability combined with great consistency.
• SOFT C3: The softest compound in the range also demonstrated pace as well as consistency: McLaren driver Carlos Sainz used the instant speed of the red tyre to take the lead at the beginning of the race, with Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri) completing 28 laps on it.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“We’re very happy with the performance of all three compounds on a demanding circuit that the teams didn’t know well; also having had reduced running in free practice. Despite this, all three compounds showed both speed and durability, with a wide range of different strategies. Conditions today were tricky with reasonably cool track temperatures and even a bit of rain, but that didn’t prevent us seeing some impressively long stints, particularly on the medium tyre – which was clearly the one to have, as it also set pole. Congratulations to Lewis Hamilton for his incredible record: we’re privileged to witness history being made.”

• P Zero Yellow medium tyres. These were used throughout Q3 by Red Bull’s Alex Albon and for the final Q3 run with both Mercedes drivers, to set their fastest times of the session and take pole with Lewis Hamilton.
• Strategy. Both Mercedes also set their best Q2 times on the P Zero Yellow medium tyres, meaning that this is the tyre they will start the race on. Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc additionally went through Q2 on the medium. All the rest of the top 10 on the grid will start on the P Zero Red soft.
• Weather. Ambient temperatures were generally mild: more than 20 degrees with track temperatures just above 30 degrees and intermittent gusts of wind. Tomorrow’s weather could be variable though, with a chance of rain.
• Surfaces. The newly-asphalted surface in Portimao is very smooth and offers low grip, but should continue to evolve throughout the race.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“There’s an interesting variation in terms of strategy, with both Mercedes in first and second, as well as the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc in fourth, starting the race on the medium tyre: which also set pole. It's going to be fascinating to see which advantage the medium runners can take from this compound. With the gusting winds and blind crests, Portimao is far from an easy circuit. So we could have an unpredictable race tomorrow, where managing the tyres – the three hardest in our range, which was the right choice as today’s action showed – and keeping them in the right temperature window will be essential in the relatively cool and low-grip conditions. We saw in qualifying that the track became a bit slower in the final part of Q3. In these decreasing track temperatures, along with gusting winds, we saw both Mercedes drivers and the Red Bull of Alex Albon opt for the Yellow medium tyres during the decisive qualifying runs. With a relatively unknown circuit and lack of long runs in a disrupted FP2 on Friday, it's tricky to clearly identify the performance gaps between the tyres as well as wear and degradation levels, which in turn makes it hard to predict the optimal race strategies”.

FRIDAY TYRE SUMMARY

• Valtteri Bottas set the quickest time in free practice for Mercedes on the P Zero Red soft tyre, as Formula 1 returned to Portugal for the first time since 1996.
• Conditions were mixed throughout the day, with track temperatures fluctuating. This added to the difficulty of keeping the cars on the track at a spectacular brand new venue for Formula 1, with FP1 getting underway on slippery and ‘green’ asphalt.
• Bottas was fastest in both sessions today: using the P Zero Yellow medium tyres in the morning and P Zero Red soft tyres in the afternoon.
• With the three hardest tyres in the range nominated, drivers were able to push hard during both sessions to find the limits.
• For the first half-hour of FP2, all the drivers also got their first taste of what could be the tyres for next year, trying out different 2021 prototypes in a blind test with the run plan defined by Pirelli. Each team received three sets of prototypes to test, with one car required to complete a longer run while the other focused on a back-to-back comparison over short runs.
• The FP2 session was subsequently interrupted by a lengthy red flag session with just over half an hour left to go, after Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri caught fire. This was quickly followed by another red flag, when two other cars came together.
• As a result of these interruptions, the teams only got to run the soft tyre for the final disrupted half-hour of the session, having used just the P Zero White hard and P Zero Yellow medium in the morning.
• As there was little running on all compounds and a high degree of track evolution, the tyre gaps can only be estimated but they appear to be around 0.9 seconds between hard and medium, and 0.6 seconds behind medium and soft.
• For this race and Turkey, the standard allocation of tyres has been adjusted, with one less set of soft tyres and an extra set of hard tyres to cope with the severity of both circuits.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“It was very useful for us to run the 2021 unmarked prototype tyres during the first 30 minutes of FP2 today, as we gathered plenty of data that will be relevant as we validate the tyre specification for next year. A big thank you to all the teams and drivers for undertaking this important test. As a result of doing the test, as well as the long interruptions to FP2 this afternoon, the teams completed less running than usual, and so there is a lack of data on long runs with the nominated race tyres. This will definitely be a challenge for the rest of the weekend as Portimao is a brand new track to the calendar that nobody is very familiar with. In the morning, due to the ‘green’ track, we experienced some graining – which was no big surprise under the circumstances. As expected, the situation improved over the rest of the day, with a lot of track evolution undoubtedly still to come as more rubber is laid down.”

• The up and down rollercoaster of Portugal’s Portimao circuit in the Algarve is a brand new track to Formula 1. For Formula 1’s first grand prix in Portugal since 1996, the three hardest tyres in the range have been chosen: C1 as the P Zero White hard, C2 as the P Zero Yellow medium, and C3 as the P Zero Red soft.
• This selection has been made in order to cope with the heavy demands of the undulating circuit. Although it’s a modern track, it has an old school feel.
• Nobody knows exactly what to expect in Portimao for Formula 1, but Pirelli has some previous experience of the track in GT racing. Nonetheless, a conservative choice has been made by nominating the hardest tyres in the range – in order to cover every eventuality.
• Although the race takes place in October, warm temperatures in excess of 25 degrees centigrade are still possible in the south of Portugal.
• For the first time this year, there’s a move away from the standard allocation of eight softs, three mediums and two hards. In Portugal (and Turkey next month), the drivers will all be given seven sets of soft, three sets of medium, and three sets of hard. This is to cater for the expected severity of these two tracks.
• During the first half-hour of FP2 in Portimao, all the teams will test unmarked 13-inch prototype slick tyres for next year, according to a run plan to be defined by Pirelli. This will validate the development of tyres for 2021: the final season of 13-inch in F1.

TRACK CHARACTERISTICS

• The undulating track contains 15 corners and a long straight, with the final very long right-hand corner (Galp) putting a lot of energy in particular through the tyres.
• There’s quite a wide mix of corners: one of the reasons why Portimao was selected as an F1 testing venue heading into the 2009 season. The tyres are subjected to both lateral and especially longitudinal energy demands due to heavy braking, which will provide a considerable challenge. As usual with any new circuit, the data gathered in free practice will be vital in terms of establishing this information and formulating the right strategy.
• The circuit is quite wide at up to 14 metres, which should help overtaking.
• The track was completely resurfaced a few weeks ago so the new asphalt is an unknown: which could have different characteristics to the previous surface.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“For the first time, we head into a double-header featuring two circuits that are new to Formula 1 in its hybrid era: starting with Portimao, which makes its grand prix debut. Although Formula 1 has never raced there before, we have some experience of this track through GT and world superbikes, which gives us a good idea of what to expect. It’s an absolutely spectacular venue and we think the drivers will love racing there. Portimao is quite demanding on tyres and this could be accentuated by warm weather, which is why we have brought the three hardest compounds. We’ve also adjusted the standard tyre allocation this weekend, with the drivers getting an extra set of hard and one less set of soft. In FP2, the drivers will try out next year’s 13-inch tyres for the first time during the opening half-hour of the session. As usual this will be a ‘blind’ test, so the drivers won’t know exactly what they are sampling.”

OTHER PIRELLI NEWS

• The biggest event of Pirelli’s motorsport calendar takes place during the same weekend as the Portuguese Grand Prix: the Spa 24 Hours. Equipping the entire field and its support events, Pirelli brings up to 13,000 tyres to the Belgian endurance classic.
• In the same year that there are three F1 grands prix in Italy, a second World Rally Championship event has been announced on Italian territory. The Monza Rally Show will now close this year’s WRC from 4-6 December with around 220 kilometres of special stages in and around the Monza circuit, only half an hour from Pirelli’s headquarters in Milan.

• Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton took his 91^st career win to equal Michael Schumacher’s record. Hamilton, locked in a close duel with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, stopped twice, going from P Zero Red soft tyres to P Zero Yellow medium, to soft tyres again for the final stint. Verstappen followed an identical strategy, stopping on the same laps as Hamilton.
• The strategy was influenced by a virtual safety car and then a safety car. At the virtual safety car, around quarter of the way into the race, a number of drivers made their first stops: including the top three finishers. When the safety car came out, several drivers made their second stops: again including the podium finishers. There was then effectively a 10-lap sprint race to the finish, with the frontrunners on soft tyres.
• Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo finished third, using a similar strategy to the top three. In doing so, he sealed Renault’s first podium since 2011.
• Just one driver stopped only once: Haas’s Romain Grosjean, who moved from the medium to the P Zero White hard tyre on lap 28 and finished ninth from 16^th on the grid.
• The highest climber was Racing Point’s Nico Hulkenberg, who started 20^th after being drafted in for qualifying, and finished eighth: having followed the same tyre strategy as the top five (soft-medium-soft).
• Temperatures remained cold: just 11 degrees ambient at the end of the race, with 19 degrees of track temperature. This made keeping the tyres in the right temperature window particularly challenging: especially at the safety car re-start.

HOW EACH TYRE PERFORMED

• HARD C2: Only four drivers used the hard tyre during the race, with two of them finishing in the top 10. The two AlphaTauri drivers (Pierre Gasly and Daniil Kvyat) and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel used the hard during the middle stint. This was something of a surprise as it had not been run extensively during the sole practice session, but indicated that the Teams were nonetheless familiar with its characteristics.
• MEDIUM C3: Used for the bulk of the race and by only four drivers at the start: both AlphaTauri drivers, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, and Haas driver Romain Grosjean. This performed well during medium to long stints, despite the lack of pre-race data on long runs.
• SOFT C4: Used by most drivers at the start, with some long stints at the beginning of the race on this compound from the Racing Point duo of Sergio Perez and Hulkenberg, as well as McLaren’s Carlos Sainz: all of whom didn’t stop under the first virtual safety car. Even with the cars on full fuel, the soft performed well and didn’t display much degradation during the first stint after the start. Verstappen also set the fastest lap on this compound on the final lap.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“Congratulations to Lewis Hamilton for equalling Michael Schumacher’s record of 91 wins, and also Kimi Raikkonen for racking up a new record of grand prix starts. This was an extremely unusual race with the cold weather and lack of running on Friday, All the preparation work was done in one session on Saturday, but although there was no information about tyre wear, it emerged that there was less graining than expected, which prompted some teams to think about stopping only once. In the end, we some saw some light graining on the soft compound, but this did not influence the race outcome. The race strategy was largely influenced by the two safety cars – virtual and real – which were perfectly timed for the frontrunners and gave us all an exciting finale.”

The most likely strategy for the 60-lap Eifel Grand Prix is a two-stopper, but with the track not having been used for Formula 1 since 2013 and with no running yesterday, strategy is something of a question mark for all the teams. Adding to the tactical complexity is the fact that tomorrow could be wet – and it will certainly be cold – making it even harder to accurately predict tyre behaviour.
The theoretically quickest way will be to start on the P Zero Red soft, then on lap 19 switch to the P Zero Yellow medium for 22 laps, and finally do a 19-lap stint on the soft again. As usual, this combination of compounds can be used in any order.
Second-fastest is another two-stopper: one 18-lap stint on the soft plus two 21-lap stints on the medium.
Slower is a one-stopper, going from medium to P Zero White hard after 29 laps (or the exact opposite, running 31 laps on the hard before going to medium). The data suggests that a one-stop strategy using medium and soft is not possible.

FOCUS ON

• Weather. Track temperatures were the coldest seen all year during a race weekend, with 10 degrees ambient and 17 degrees of track temperature at the end of qualifying. Even cooler conditions are likely tomorrow, and there is a high risk of rain as well. Getting the tyres up to temperature (particularly the fronts) and keeping them there will be crucial: especially if there is a safety car.
• Track evolution. This was influenced by the track not having been used yesterday and no rubber laid down, with conditions still ‘green’ and slippery.
• Experience. Formula 1 hasn't raced at the Nürburgring since 2013 and there was no running on Friday, so the teams and drivers headed into qualifying and the race with much less experience and information than they would normally have.
• Strategy. The lack of information will have a big impact on strategy. The race strategies are much less clear cut than usual, as it’s really not clear which strategy is most advantageous in real world conditions.
• Speed. The evolution of the cars and tyres since the last time F1 went to the Nürburgring meant that the all-time track record, set by Michael Schumacher back in 2004 (1m28.351s) was already broken by most of the field in FP3.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“Finally we saw some action at the Nürburgring, with the drivers heading into qualifying with just one hour of preparation. As a result, there are a number of question marks heading into tomorrow’s grand prix, as Formula 1 hasn't raced here since 2013 and the teams have very little data to go on. As well as strategy, one of those question marks surrounds the weather, which is set to be even colder and possibly wet tomorrow. If it stays dry all the top 10 on the grid will start on the soft tyre, which removes one variable, but what happens after that very much remains to be seen. In these extremely cold temperatures, we saw some light graining in the morning as expected but as more rubber was laid down on the track and the cars adapted their set-up, the situation improved. Looking after the tyres tomorrow will still be crucial, in what should be quite an unpredictable grand prix with uncertain weather.”

• Seven years after Formula 1 last raced at the Nürburgring in 2013, the legendary German venue is back for the Eifel Grand Prix. Pirelli will bring the three compounds right in the middle of its Formula 1 range: C2 as the P Zero White hard, C3 as the P Zero Yellow medium, and C4 as the P Zero Red soft.
• It’s been so long since the last race there that the Nürburgring can almost be considered as a new venue, with the latest generation of hybrid turbo F1 cars never having driven there. Nonetheless, teams and drivers probably have some idea of what to expect from the past (or from their experiences in other championships) – although the 2013 Nürburgring race was held in July. Consequently, the whole process of data collection during free practice on Friday will start from scratch, on a blank sheet of paper.
• With a wide range of corners and no recent information about Formula 1 cars on this track at this time of year, Pirelli has opted to bring tyres that cover the middle ground, to deal with a wide variety of circumstances.
• Previous experience has shown that the Nürburgring isn’t particularly demanding on tyres: another reason for the tyre usage to be biased towards the soft end of the scale.

TRACK CHARACTERISTICS

• The weather is set to be the biggest talking point at this time of year, with rain quite likely and low temperatures also very possible. The recent Nürburgring 24 Hours was neutralised for more than nine hours as a result of torrential rain, so there’s a strong chance of seeing the Cinturato wet-weather tyres at some point during the F1 weekend. The frequent rain in the Eifel region also means that the track surface is often ‘green’ and slippery, as any rubber that gets laid down is often washed away.
• There are some quite aggressive kerbs on the chicanes (particularly at the NGK one) that encourage the drivers to take a clean line.
• The Nürburgring is generally a balanced circuit, with a roughly equal mix of lateral and longitudinal forces acting on the car.
• The hairpin Turn 7 is particularly tricky: there is a big deceleration heading into it and the front-left tyre has to do a lot of work to compensate for the unusual camber of the corner.
• Cold weather below 10 degrees centigrade ambient can potentially cause ‘cold cracks’ in the tyres, which means that they need to be carefully looked after while being fitted in the fitting area and then stored by the teams.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“The Nürburgring is practically an all-new venue for us, so we'll be treating it as if we are coming there for the first time in Formula 1, although of course we remember it well and we have raced there many times in other championships. In order to ensure we have everything covered, we’re bringing the three tyres in the middle of our range, which are also well-suited to the varied demands of this track. Probably the biggest factor will be the weather, with low temperatures and rain quite likely at this time of year. As a result, the teams might have to deal with some quite unusual circumstances, on a track that they aren’t particularly familiar with. So this is a race that is likely to favour drivers and teams who are able to get to grips with new situations quickly. I think it’s fair to say that we’re set for a race with many variables, where we may even see all five types of tyre that we bring to the grand prix used over the course of the weekend.”

OTHER PIRELLI NEWS

• Pirelli’s home World Rally Championship event – Rally Italia Sardegna – takes place during the same weekend as the Eifel Grand Prix. The Italian firm is using this rally to showcase the new range of tyres that it will supply to the championship from next year. In a unique display, 2003 World Rally Champion Petter Solberg will drive Pirelli’s Citroen C3 WRC test car on the rally-ending Power Stage – co-driven by Pirelli’s test driver Andreas Mikkelsen.
• The Indianapolis 8 Hours – the latest round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge Powered by Pirelli – took place last weekend at the legendary American venue, won by Walkenhorst Motorsport driving a BMW M6 GT3.
• The Eifel Grand Prix will be the first race weekend this year without Formula 2 or Formula 3. With fewer support races, less rubber is laid on the track: which has an effect on overall track evolution.

• Just as he did in 2017 – his first Formula 1 victory – Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas won in Russia from third on the grid. The Finn took the lead after his team mate Lewis Hamilton served a 10-second penalty during his pit stop. Bottas on Yellow Medium stopped 10 laps later, switching to White hard tyres.
• Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who finished second, used exactly the same strategy as Bottas, making his sole stop a lap earlier. They were the only drivers who qualified in the top 10 of the grid to start the race on the Yellow medium tyre.
• Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, who finished third, ran a soft-hard strategy, but his tactics were dictated by Q2 yesterday (when he set his best time on the soft) and having to serve his penalty during the race. He rejoined in P11 and made his way back up to the final podium.
• Three drivers (McLaren’s Lando Norris, Red Bull’s Alex Albon, and Williams driver George Russell) took advantage of a safety car on the first lap to change onto the hard compound. Only one of them – Norris – attempted to get to the finish on this compound, but was forced to come off them in the closing stages and switch to medium, after 46 laps on the same set of hards.
• Daniil Kvyat (AlphaTauri) finished his home grand prix in eighth, as the highest placed of just two drivers to start the race on the hard compound. The other, Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen, completed a 35-lap opening stint on this tyre.

HOW EACH TYRE PERFORMED

• HARD C3: Used by the top seven for the final stint, with some very long runs also seen on this compound. Bottas set the fastest lap of the race on 25-lap-old hard tyres with two laps left to go. Hamilton also did 37 laps on the White hard.
• MEDIUM C4: Most drivers outside of the top 10 selected the medium to start the race with. A key ingredient in the race strategy of the top two drivers, who started on the medium.
• SOFT C5: Only eight drivers used this to start the race: one of them was Hamilton from pole. Racing Point’s Sergio Perez used the same soft-hard strategy as Hamilton to finish fourth.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“On a hot day in Sochi, with ambient temperatures in excess of 30 degrees, we saw a variety of strategies, as a result of bringing compounds that were a step softer than last year. In the past, Sochi has been mainly a one-stop race, and this was generally the case again but with all three compounds coming into play as part of the different strategies. Managing thermal degradation was key, especially on the soft, but we also saw some particularly long stints on the hard. Congratulations to Valtteri Bottas and also to Mercedes – which keeps up its unbeaten record at the Russian Grand Prix.”

The fastest way to approach the 53-lap race is a one-stopper, as has traditionally been the case on the smooth asphalt of Sochi. However, tomorrow’s weather is expected to be even hotter than today, which will obviously have an effect on thermal degradation.
As usual the teams will end up focussing on a one-stopper, also because the pit lane speed limit in Sochi is only 60kph: meaning that there’s a bigger time penalty for a pit stop. On top of that, it’s hard to overtake if you find traffic.
The quickest way will be to start on the Red soft tyre and then switch to the White hard after approximately 12 laps. Just as quick but very marginal on wear is soft for 14 laps and Yellow medium for 39 laps. As usual, this can be done the other way round too.
Slightly slower than those is a medium-hard one-stopper: medium for 22 laps and hard for 31 laps.
Finally, the quickest two-stopper will involve two stints on the soft of 12 laps and one on the medium, possibly running the medium in the 29-lap middle stint.

FOCUS ON

• Soft tyres. With Pirelli bringing a softer range of tyres to Russia than last year, the teams will have to manage the soft tyre in particular carefully this weekend. Although the soft has held up well, there’s potentially a big advantage in starting on the medium compound as it provides more flexibility: as the frontrunners demonstrated in qualifying.
• Strategy. While a one-stopper is set to be chosen by most drivers tomorrow, there is a wide variety of strategic permutations using all three compounds.
• Medium tyre. Only the Red Bull of Max Verstappen and Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas will start on the medium compound in the top 10 of the grid, from second and third. The cars immediately behind them – as well as Hamilton on pole – will be on the faster soft tyre.
• Second place on the grid is reckoned to be a cleaner line, which could help Verstappen get in front of Hamilton tomorrow and claim a subsequent advantage on his different strategy.
• Red flag. The Q2 session was disrupted with just over two minutes to go, interrupting a number of crucial qualifying laps, including that of Hamilton. This severely compromised qualifying strategy and also meant that managing tyres on the out lap was particularly crucial in the short time remaining.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“As expected the tyres performed well during qualifying, but the session itself was certainly unpredictable! We expected the frontrunners to use the medium during Q2 and that proved to be the case, with the Red Bull of Max Verstappen and Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas starting the race tomorrow on this compound. This should give them the advantage of a potentially longer first stint and more flexibility in terms of strategy. The red flag at the end of the Q2 session posed an additional challenge for the teams in qualifying, with a big few surprises – especially for Lewis Hamilton, who had probably intended to go through Q2 on the medium tyre – and plenty of finely-calculated tactics. The scene is now set for a tense strategic battle tomorrow, which will require a bit of tyre management for those starting on the soft tyre and intending to stop just once in particular”.

FRIDAY TYRE SUMMARY

• With the Sochi circuit not having been used for some time and no Formula 3 this weekend, it was extremely ‘green’ and slippery surface with a high degree of track evolution and variable winds. As a result, the drivers struggled for grip.
• The high track evolution meant that the times improved during the warm conditions of the afternoon, with Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas going fastest in both sessions, using the P Zero Red soft tyre on each occasion (the C5 – which is the softest in the entire Pirelli F1 range). The nomination for Russia this year is one step softer than the tyres chosen for 2019.
• Renault driver Daniel Ricciardo showed strong performance in both sessions on the soft tyre, finishing second in FP1 and third in FP2.
• From the data gained so far, Mercedes (which has won the Russian Grand Prix since it was inaugurated in 2014) appears to have a considerable pace advantage, which could allow them to qualify on the Yellow medium tyre tomorrow.
• Today’s data indicates a performance gap of around 0.7 seconds between soft and medium, and 0.6 seconds between medium and hard.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“We didn’t see any particular surprises from today. Given that the track hasn’t been used for quite a while and Formula 2 is the only support event, there was low grip, with a high degree of track evolution. We’d expect that evolution to continue throughout tomorrow as more rubber is laid down on the track. This year, we’re bringing softer tyres than before, which obviously means that drivers have to manage their pace more carefully over the longer runs. As expected there was high wear on the soft compound, with some blistering seen on the front-left. Behind the Mercedes – which were particularly impressive on the harder compounds – the pace seems to be closely matched, and the performance gaps between the compounds suggests that many different strategies are possible. These strategies of course begin with qualifying tomorrow: it’s going to be interesting to see which teams feel confident of getting through Q2 on the medium compound.”

• Two weeks after the three hardest tyres in the range were used at Mugello, Pirelli now brings the three softest tyres in the range to Sochi: C3 as the P Zero White hard, C4 as the P Zero Yellow medium and C5 as the P Zero Red soft.
• This choice has been made based on the smoothness of the asphalt at Sochi, which is well-known for being relatively easy on tyres.
• The weather is also generally mild in Sochi and there aren’t many high-energy corners, making the three softest tyres in the P Zero F1 range the ideal choice.

TRACK CHARACTERISTICS

• Inaugurated in 2014, the asphalt in Sochi has gradually matured over the years. Nonetheless, the track is still well-known for offering comparatively low levels of grip.
• The tyre choice is actually one step softer than last year, when the C2, C3 and C4 were selected. Most drivers stopped once in 2019: just five of the 15 classified finishers stopped twice and this was largely influenced by the safety car.
• The most demanding corner is definitely Turn 3: a 750-metre constant radius left-hander, working the front-right tyre hardest. The rest of the circuit is largely composed of slow to medium speed 90-degree corners, giving Sochi something of the feel of a street circuit (having been built around the Olympic Park).

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“The Russian Grand Prix is one of the relatively few events this year to stick to its original calendar slot, which is at the same time as last year. Since then though, we’ve gone a step softer with the tyre choice, in order to provide extra speed and an additional challenge in terms of tyre strategy. Thanks to the current reduced tread depth, which was first introduced in 2019, the softer C3, C4 and C5 nomination this year should encourage the use of all three compounds without the drivers having to manage them extensively during the race. With last year’s strategy having been heavily influenced by neutralisations – plus 2020 cars that are faster than ever before – the teams will certainly have a few unknowns heading into this year’s Russian Grand Prix. Having said that, Sochi places relatively low demands on tyres, so a one-stop race should still be possible. The teams will work out during free practice if this is still the fastest way: which we expect to be a popular choice as teams tend to target one-stoppers whenever possible”.

OTHER PIRELLI NEWS

• Renault junior driver Oscar Piastri was crowned Formula 3 champion at the championship’s final round in Mugello for Prema, becoming the first Australian ever to win the title. The 19-year-old will receive a €300,000 scholarship from Pirelli to help him graduate to Formula 2 next year.
• Formula 2 resumes in Russia for its first round without Formula 3 as well, with Mick Schumacher – who demonstrated his father’s Ferrari F2004 at Mugello – leading the F2 standings.
• The World Rally Championship, which Pirelli will supply exclusively next year, resumed last weekend in Turkey. The top-placed Pirelli driver was Kajetan Kajetanowicz, winner of the Rally 2 class on a Skoda.

KEY MOMENTS

• An exciting and action-packed Tuscan Grand Prix was characterised by two red flags and multiple safety car periods, meaning that teams had to react very quickly to rapidly changing circumstances, adapting their strategies to unfolding events and the tyres they had available.
• Under the red flag regulations, teams are allowed to change tyres and make certain repairs to their cars. Mercedes dominated the race, with both Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas leading at different points. They followed exactly the same strategy throughout the race, using all three compounds.
• Red Bull’s Alex Albon scored his debut podium, ahead of Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo – who had gained crucial track position by strategically undercutting his key rivals earlier in the race. Ricciardo was voted driver of the day, while Williams driver George Russell claimed his best-ever race finish in 11^th.
• Only 12 drivers were classified at the finish of the Pirelli-sponsored Tuscan Grand Prix, which celebrated 1000 races for Ferrari.

HOW EACH TYRE PERFORMED

• HARD C1: Mercedes and Ferrari were the only top teams to use the hardest compound after the first restart, which was well-suited to the intense demands of the rapid Mugello circuit.
• MEDIUM C2: Daniil Kvyat and Kimi Raikkonen were the only drivers to finish in the points after selecting this tyre for the original start, ending up seventh and ninth respectively.
• SOFT C3: Used by the top 10 on the grid at the start of the race: also used by all the drivers for the final stint after the second re-start. Hamilton additionally claimed the extra point for fastest lap on the final tour using the soft.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“The inaugural Mugello Grand Prix is one that people will remember for a very long time, with three starts in total, the same number of safety cars, all the tyres used, and exciting action from start to finish. On a track that was extremely demanding on tyres, run in hot conditions, Mercedes dominated from start to finish, but the strategies were clearly influenced by the extraordinary turn of events. The high number of accidents also left a lot of carbon fibre debris on the track. Managing the re-starts was crucial, as well as taking care of the tyres throughout a very long afternoon. All drivers did a fantastic job under immense pressure, delivering an unpredictably thrilling spectacle in Italy for the second weekend in a row. ”

POSSIBLE RACE STRATEGIES

With Mugello being a brand new circuit where it’s not so easy to overtake, with high speeds and close gaps as well, strategy is going to be all-important: especially as tyre wear and degradation is expected to be quite high. That degradation, on the Red soft tyre in particular, will be key to the strategy.
Both a one and a two-stop strategy are possible, but as always, the teams will try to complete the race with just one stop: especially those in the top 10 of the grid (all starting on the soft compound).
On paper, a two-stopper is actually slightly quicker for the 59-lap race. The fastest two-stopper consists of two stints of 19 laps on the soft tyre plus a 21-lap stint on the Yellow medium (perhaps in the middle stint). The second-fastest two-stopper uses just one stint on the soft of 16 laps, then two stints on the medium of 21 and 22 laps respectively.
Based on the tyres that the drivers have available, the one-stopper is slightly slower but very marginal on wear: starting on the soft tyre and then switching to the White hard on lap 22. This is the strategy that the top 10 on the grid seem likely to go for.
The slowest – but more flexible – one-stopper will be a medium-hard strategy, switching tyres on lap 26. As always, these strategies can all use the tyres in a different order, depending on individual race circumstances.

FOCUS ON

• Strategy. All the drivers used the P Zero Red soft tyre from start to finish of qualifying, so the top 10 will all start on this compound. After the first stint, there are several options. With a new circuit and a close margin between a one-stopper and a two-stopper, there could be a variety of quite different race tactics tomorrow – which might make a crucial difference.
• Safety cars. Mugello it’s an old school track with small run-off areas that are unforgiving of mistakes. Given the two red flags during FP2 yesterday, a safety car could be very possible tomorrow – and the team strategies have to be ready to react to that.
• Max Verstappen. The Red Bull driver has also been consistently fast throughout the weekend so far, able to closely match Mercedes in both qualifying and race pace.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“It was another warm day at Mugello with the tyres providing good performance. Already in Q1 yesterday’s new track record was broken, before being lowered further in the final session. All the drivers in the top 10 of the grid have chosen to start the race on the soft tyres, which obviously has an effect on the race strategy. Controlling degradation on the soft at the beginning of the race will be crucial, and this will help to decide if it’s a one or a two stop race, with several different strategies possible. The soft tyres were used from start to finish of qualifying today, but the harder compounds will definitely come into their own tomorrow, especially for the drivers contemplating a one-stop strategy.”

TYRE GAP

FRIDAY TYRE SUMMARY

• Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas was fastest in both sessions with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen second in FP1 and third in FP2 after Lewis Hamilton and with a gap of just over 0.2 seconds – indicating that we are likely to see a closely-fought qualifying session and race.
• So far we noted a slightly bigger gap (0.9 seconds) between Yellow medium and Red soft than expected and a gap of 0.7 seconds between medium and White hard.
• The teams and drivers all had their first taste of Mugello in two free practice sessions today, with running to acquaint themselves with the high-speed demands of the Tuscan track, in warm temperatures that exceeded 30 degrees ambient and 40 degrees on track.
• Teams sampled all three of the Pirelli compounds available (C1, C2, and C3: the three hardest in the range) with many splitting their strategies in order to accumulate as much information about the tyres as possible, using different fuel loads. This is normal for Friday free practice, but becomes particularly important at a demanding new venue with abrasive asphalt.
• As expected, the soft tyre was fastest – but many drivers reported that its optimal qualifying performance was delivered over just one lap, which means that some drivers may choose to start the race on the medium tyre.
• The considerable challenge of the up-and-down track layout, allied with the warm temperatures seen today, meant that there was a relatively high degree of tyre wear and degradation seen – particularly on the long runs – which should be the case for the race as well.
• Run plans were disrupted by two red flags during the afternoon session and this prevented to collect the usual amount of data.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“The drivers all enjoyed their first taste of Mugello, with the unofficial track record that was set back in 2004 already comprehensively broken in FP1 and then lowered even further in FP2, on both occasions with the Red soft tyre. We expected tyre wear to be relatively high over the long runs, with high degradation also on the soft and the data we saw in free practice proved that this was the case. Performance-wise we noted a slightly bigger time gap between medium and soft than expected. This will obviously be a crucial factor when it comes to calculating the qualifying and race strategy, together with the data accumulated tomorrow in FP3. The ‘green’ track we experienced today meant that there was plenty of track evolution, which should continue tomorrow.”

WHAT’S CONFIRMED

Just three colours at each race in 2020, with five different compounds available: C1 is the hardest, C5 is the softest.

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 one set of P Zero White hard and P Zero Yellow medium available for the grand prix and one of them must be used.
3. Each driver has 13 sets available in total for the weekend. At the Grand Prix of Emilia-Romagna in Imola, there will only be 10 sets of tyres per driver as it’s just a two-day race weekend.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“With the 2020 calendar now complete for this highly unusual covid-disrupted season, which features a number of new venues, we’re pleased to announce the tyre nominations up to the end of the year. As usual, these have been designed to take into account a wide range of factors such as circuit layout, likely weather conditions, and asphalt characteristics. Where the circuits are new, we’ve relied on information about the asphalt and data from other championships plus computer simulations from teams to identify the most appropriate selection. As has been the case since the season re-started, there will be a standard allocation of two sets of hard tyres, three sets of mediums, and eights sets of softs per driver for Germany, Bahrain and Abu Dhabi. At Imola, there will only be 10 sets of tyres per driver (two sets of hard, two sets of medium and six sets of soft) as it’s just a two-day race weekend. In Portugal and Turkey, due to expected severity of the circuits, the allocation will be three sets of hard, three sets of medium, and seven sets of soft. As a result, the drivers will have a hard tyre to try during free practice, and still be able to keep two sets of the hard for the race if required.”

WHY WE’VE CHOSEN THE TYRES

• Pirelli will be the title sponsor of the first ever Gran Prix at Mugello, which also celebrates 1000 races for Ferrari. The three hardest tyres in the range have been chosen: C1 as the White hard, C2 as the Yellow medium ad C3 as the Red soft.
• The choice has been made due to the fast and varied demands of Mugello. As this is the first time that Mugello has been on the F1 calendar, the selection has been made to cover any unforeseen circumstances.
• In the second week of September, there is still a strong chance of having hot weather: another reason to go with a harder choice, guarding against thermal degradation.

TRACK CHARACTERISTICS

• Located in the Tuscan hills, there is a plenty of elevation changes at Mugello, together with a quite narrow track and some bumps. This helps make for an old-school feel to the circuit, inaugurated in its current form in 1974, but with roots going back to a 1914 road course.
• The 15 corners are mainly medium to high speed, with no really tight chicanes or big braking zone throughout the 5.2-kilometre lap.
• The right-hand Arrabbiata corners are the two quickest corners of the track, probably taken flat-out in a Formula 1 car at speeds of around 260 or 270kph.
• It is quite a technical layout as every corner is crucial for different reasons: the Luco - Poggio Secco – Materassi complex at the start of the lap is all about maintaining the highest possible apex speed and perfect racing line, while the Biondetti corners at the end of the lap (which almost make up a natural chicane) are vital as a launch pad onto the following lap.
• The asphalt at Mugello is famously aggressive, again placing more demands on the tyres. The track was completely resurfaced for the last time in 2011.
• The current (unofficial) F1 lap record is held by Rubens Barrichello and Ferrari from 2004: 1m18.704s, which is set to be shattered this year. While Mugello has never been used for a Formula 1 race and is better known for bikes, it is an established F1 testing venue.
• For the first time this year, there will be fans admitted to a grand prix weekend, with just 3,000 spectators allowed at the second of three Italian F1 races this season.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“Mugello is a fantastic addition to the World Championship calendar with a particular significance for Pirelli, as it's where we first ran our Formula 1 tyres back in August 2010, just two months after our agreement was announced to supply the sport from 2011 onwards. It’s a spectacular and very fast circuit that will definitely place big demands on tyres, which is why we have selected the hardest compounds. As with any new venue, Mugello represents a bit of an unknown for most of the drivers and an entirely clean sheet of paper when it comes to strategy. Free practice will be particularly crucial to collect as much data as possible, and we’re likely to see teams splitting their programmes to gain as much information as they can about every tyre under all circumstances. From our point of view, we’ve been able to prepare also by analysing data from our other championships that have raced at Mugello. Congratulations to Ferrari for reaching the incredible milestone of 1000 races: just one of the factors that makes the team so iconic in our sport, and worthy of this fitting celebration where we are also delighted to be title sponsor.”

OTHER PIRELLI NEWS

• The World Rally Championship – which Pirelli will supply exclusively from next year –finally resumed in Estonia last weekend, alongside the Junior World Rally Championship, which Pirelli currently supplies (and will continue with in future). The Junior winner was Martin Sesks while Pirelli’s top WRC2 competitor was the WRC3 winner Oliver Solberg who finished ninth overall on a Volkswagen Polo R5.
• Formula 2 and Formula 3 keeps up its unbroken run of grand prix weekends so far this season by also coming to Mugello. This will be the final F3 round, while F2 continues.
• The Pirelli-equipped GT World Challenge series carried on last weekend with a six-hour race at the Nurburgring in Germany, won by Dinamic Motorsport (Porsche GT3) crew with Christian Engelhart, Matteo Cairoli and Sven Muller.

• AlphaTauri driver Pierre Gasly took his debut win at Monza using all three compounds brought by Pirelli. The red flag on lap 26 meant that all the drivers could change tyres in the pits, so effectively, the Italian Grand Prix boiled down to a 27-lap sprint race, which re-started at 16:20 local time.
• Racing Point’s Lance Stroll, who finished third, effectively gained a ‘free’ pit stop, as he was the only driver not to stop before the red flag came out.
• Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton led the race from pole, but was handed a 10 second stop-and-go penalty, which he served immediately after the race re-started. On Yellow medium tyres, he re-started first, emerged at the back after his penalty, and eventually ended up seventh with the White hard.
• A number of different tyre strategies were already seen before the red flag, but when the race was re-started, there was an equally wide selection of tyres used: with all three compounds chosen for the re-start. However, the top six at the finish all selected the medium tyre for the second half of the race.
• There were no further pit stops following the re-start, even for the drivers who had chosen the Red soft tyre (used by Renault’s Esteban Ocon to finish eighth).
• Weather conditions remained dry and warm, with 30 degrees ambient and 41 degrees centigrade at the re-start.

HOW EACH TYRE PERFORMED

• HARD C2: Selected by Lewis Hamilton for his final stint: also used by race winner Gasly for his second stint, immediately before the red flag.
• MEDIUM C3: Used by most drivers after the re-start, combining speed with durability to ensure a rapid sprint finish to the race.
• SOFT C4: Used by Alfa Romeo’s drivers and Renault’s Esteban Ocon for the second half of the race following the restart, and by all the top 10 on the original grid for the first stint.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“All our compounds performed well today. The race strategy was obviously dominated and reset by the red flag. This was preceded by a safety car, all of which added up to a highly unusual and entertaining grand prix. Effectively, we had a 27-lap sprint race to the finish, which meant that the drivers had to think about managing their tyres throughout the duration of the second half of the race. Congratulations to Pierre Gasly and AlphaTauri for a very memorable and perfectly-managed victory – as well as to Carlos Sainz with McLaren and Lance Stroll with Racing Point, who finished second and third at this incredible Italian Grand Prix: where the top three all used completely different strategies”.

All the drivers in the top 10 of the grid will start the race on the Red soft tyres. The fastest strategy for the 53-lap Italian Grand Prix is a one-stopper, starting on soft and going onto Yellow medium after 24 laps (or alternatively, vice versa).
The second-quickest way is still a one-stopper, but this time using soft for 22 laps and then White hard for 31 laps.
Close to both of these – but with the big advantage of providing a wider pit stop window – is a strategy that involves the medium for 26 laps and the hard for 27 laps. As always, this can work just as well the other way round.
A two-stop strategy is definitely slower, but the best way to do it would be two 16-lap stints on the soft and a 21-lap run on the medium, possibly using the medium in the middle stint.

FOCUS ON

• Speed. Monza is the ‘temple of speed’ and it lived up to its name in qualifying today, with Hamilton’s pole time breaking the all-time track record that had stood since 2018, set by Kimi Raikkonen and Ferrari in qualifying. The record was already broken in Q2, before being lowered further in Q3. Both Mercedes drivers broke the previous qualifying record of 1m19.119s.
• Tactics. The tactics weren’t just about which tyres to use, but also how best to get a tow from other drivers – which often caused a traffic jam as drivers jostled for the best position. All the drivers in the top 10 on the grid used the soft tyre to get through Q2, and will start on this compound tomorrow. Mercedes was the only team to use the medium during Q1.
• Track. As seen yesterday, there was a bit of dirt on the track caused by drivers running wide, which may have affected some drivers during the closely-fought session.
• Temperatures. Today was hotter than yesterday, with 31 degrees ambient and 46 degrees of track temperature halfway through the session. Similar conditions are expected tomorrow.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“Everything went very smoothly from a tyre point of view. Tomorrow should be a one-stop race but there are different variations of one-stoppers that can be applied, opening several strategic possibilities. The top 10 will all start on the soft tyre tomorrow, levelling up the playing field, so it will be interesting to see how many drivers from P11 downwards decide to try something different by starting on the medium or hard in what are expected to be warm conditions. Mercedes was the only team to run the medium in qualifying, which otherwise featured the soft from start to finish, but the harder compounds are set to play an important role in the race. Once more, we saw another track record comprehensively broken this weekend – but this one is particularly significant, as it’s on the fastest circuit of them all, and our home race”.

FRIDAY TYRE SUMMARY

• Mercedes was fastest during both sessions, going quickest on Red soft compounds in the morning, before setting the quickest time of the day on the soft in the afternoon, courtesy of Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton’s best FP2 time was nearly a second faster than the best FP2 time last year (although free practice last year was affected by mixed weather conditions).
• Teams explored the performance of the different compounds on different fuel loads, and also worked on various qualifying tactics, to potentially take advantage of slipstreaming on the rapid straights.
• A few drivers went wide today on certain corners, dragging dirt onto the track that might have slightly affected the lap times and potentially damaged tyres of those following behind.
• Conditions were dry and warm throughout free practice at Monza, with ambient temperatures close to 30 degrees and track temperatures in excess of 40 degrees during the afternoon.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“Today’s tyre performance was exactly in line with expectations, although it’s hard to compare with last year as the weather conditions were quite different. Between the hard and the soft tyre there’s about a second in total: about 0.6s between soft and medium and 0.4s between medium and hard. We saw some long runs on all three compounds today which suggests that the hard compound could also play an important role at what is set to be a one-stop race. As expected, we saw teams trying out a few different tactics for qualifying, which has always been a feature of Monza. The warm conditions we had today should remain for the rest of the weekend, which means that the information captured in free practice should be very relevant to both qualifying and the race. The tyres themselves have stood up well to the challenge of the ‘Temple of Speed’ over the long runs, even with the softest compound”.

• At Monza, the ‘temple of speed’, the same compound selection has been made as last year: C2 as the P Zero White hard, C3 as the P Zero Yellow medium, and C4 as the P Zero Red soft. These are the tyres that sit right in the middle of Pirelli’s F1 range, covering a wide spectrum of conditions.
• This choice has been made to suit the varied characteristics of Monza. As well as its famous flat-out straights, there are some slower and more technical sections that have been added to the iconic Italian track over the years to try to contain average speeds.
• Like Belgium, Monza is another race whose original 2020 date hasn’t been moved – and past experience has shown that it can be extremely hot at this time of year, towards the end of the Italian summer.

TRACK CHARACTERISTICS

• Monza is one of the classic venues on the Formula 1 calendar, where top speeds close to 360kph are seen thanks to teams running minimal downforce to avoid drag down the straights. The trade-off is that there’s less aerodynamic grip through the corners, meaning that the cars then have to rely more on mechanical grip from the tyres. With less downforce pushing down on them, the tyres are more susceptible to sliding – which increases wear.
• If the weather isn't warm, another effect of the long and fast straights at Monza is to cool the tyres down – meaning that they might not be completely up to temperature for the following corners.
• Last year’s race was won with a one-stop strategy as Charles Leclerc sealed a popular home victory for Ferrari. Leclerc, who started from pole, was the only driver to choose a soft-hard strategy: the other one-stoppers all went for a soft-medium plan.
• Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, who stopped twice, finished less than a second behind Leclerc – so a variety of strategies is clearly possible at the Italian race.
• The overall lap record of 1m19.119s was set by Kimi Raikkonen in qualifying with Ferrari two years ago.
• However, the fastest race lap at Monza still dates back to 2004, courtesy of Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello. Could this be the season when that 16-year-old benchmark finally gets broken?

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“For the first time in history, we embark on two consecutive Formula 1 weekends in Italy: each with different tyre nominations too. Unlike Mugello, Monza is very much a known quantity, with the teams having plenty of relevant data from these same compounds that were also used last year. However, the cars are now a lot faster and the weather could also be a question mark: it’s often warm and dry but there’s been rain in recent years too. Both a one-stopper and a two-stopper can work, but unlike last year, the drivers now have a fixed tyre allocation that has a direct effect on the strategy by influencing which compounds they ultimately have available for the race. However, this allocation has been designed to give the drivers the maximum possible opportunities, so that they can target the tyres that they want to have on race day.”

OTHER PIRELLI NEWS

• The World Rally Championship finally resumes during the same weekend as the Italian Grand Prix, with the series visiting Estonia for the first time. From next year onwards, Pirelli becomes the sole supplier to the championship. Norway’s Andreas Mikkelsen is conducting a private test campaign for Pirelli in a Citroen C3 WRC.
• The GT World Challenge, exclusively supplied by Pirelli, is at the Nürburgring in Germany this weekend for a six-hour race that makes up round three: another competition where tyre strategy is key.
• Once more, Monza hosts Formula 2 and Formula 3 – as has been the case at every grand prix so far this year.
• As well as making tyres for the fastest cars in the world, Pirelli also makes tyres for those that are less fast: the Italian firm has recently re-issued tyres for the classic Fiat 500 as part of the Pirelli Collezione.

KEY MOMENTS

• Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won the Belgian Grand Prix from pole, stopping just once to switch from Yellow medium to White hard tyres on lap 11 under a lengthy safety car period. All three podium finishers used an identical strategy.
• The safety car heavily influenced the strategy, with all the drivers apart from two stopping to change tyres. Of the drivers who stopped, only Red Bull’s Alex Albon didn’t switch to hard for the second stint (instead choosing medium).
• The drivers who didn’t stop were AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly and Racing Point’s Sergio Perez. Gasly was the only driver to start the race on the hard tyre, and he swapped to the medium on lap 26, eventually finishing eighth from 12^th on the grid. Perez switched from Red soft to hard after 18 laps, also finishing in the points.
• The top four in the race all finished in grid order, with the top nine all having stopped just once under the safety car.
• Only three drivers stopped twice: Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, Williams driver Nicholas Latifi, and Haas driver Kevin Magnussen.
• Despite earlier predictions of rain, the race remained dry from start to finish.

HOW EACH TYRE PERFORMED

• HARD C2: Used by all the drivers for the final stint apart from Albon, Gasly, Leclerc, Latifi and Magnussen. Completed 33 laps with most drivers after the safety car and set fastest lap with Renault driver Daniel Ricciardo on the final lap.
• MEDIUM C3: A popular choice to start the race with, selected in particular by the top three on the grid (and final podium) who used these to get through Q2. Albon did a 33-lap stint on this compound.
• SOFT C4: Completed a long opening stint with Sergio Perez, who didn’t stop under the safety car. Although this was a soft compound that wasn’t brought here last year, it demonstrated plenty of consistency throughout its running.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“The safety car dictated the strategy for most drivers today, pushing them towards a longer final stint than was expected on the hard tyre. This meant that they had to manage the compound carefully towards the end of the race in particular, on a notoriously demanding track. However, they all accomplished this perfectly and some drivers also chose a different strategic approach. Pierre Gasly showed plenty of pace with his unique hard-medium strategy and we also saw Sergio Perez choose not to stop under the safety car and try something different. All three nominated compounds played an important role today, and were well suited to the conditions here at Spa – one of the biggest tests for tyres of the year.”

POSSIBLE RACE STRATEGIES

The optimal strategy for the 44-lap Belgian Grand Prix is on paper a one-stopper, but as usual the tactics in Belgium will be heavily influenced by the weather. Aside from the possibility of rain, estimated earlier at 80%, ambient and track temperatures will also play a part.
The fastest theoretical strategy is to start on the soft tyre for 18 laps and then complete the race on the medium. The exact opposite can work too.
Second-quickest is another one-stopper, with the soft for 16 laps and the hard for 28 laps, while a two-stopper is feasible as well: start on the soft for 14 laps, then medium for 16 laps, then soft for 14 laps.
Slower is a one-stopper using medium for 20 laps and hard for 24 laps – but all the strategies listed above are actually quite close, so it will come down to individual race circumstances when deciding the best solution.

FOCUS ON

• Speed. Hamilton’s pole time on soft was not only nearly 1.3 seconds faster than last year’s pole, but the Mercedes driver also set a new track record at Spa four times during qualifying (including on the medium tyre) eclipsing the previous benchmark from 2018. The first seven cars in qualifying were all faster than last year’s pole.
• Weather. A lot is always said about variable conditions at Spa, but it’s all true: weather will be the determining factor when it comes to strategy, especially with a considerable possibility of rain tomorrow. This will point teams towards a flexible strategy to allow them to take advantage of changing circumstances.
• Strategy. The top three cars – Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen – will all start the race on the P Zero Yellow medium tyre, having used it to set their best times in Q2, while the rest of the top 10 behind them will start on soft.
• Renault. Both cars have been quick all weekend, with Daniel Ricciardo qualifying fourth and Esteban Ocon sixth.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“There were only a few drops of rain seen earlier today, and on the P Zero Red soft tyres – one step softer than the softest compound we brought to Spa last year – Lewis Hamilton broke the all-time Spa lap record four times during qualifying, including once on the medium tyre. The fact that the top seven on the grid are all faster than last year’s pole underlines the impressive evolution of the cars since last year. We’ve seen some divergence in strategies already, with the top three cars on the grid starting the race on the medium tyre tomorrow. This will make for a particularly interesting first stint: those on the medium should be able to go longer, but the drivers on soft will have a speed advantage that could be considerable in the early stages. While the teams will always be planning their strategies carefully, Spa is a race where tactics often have to react to changing circumstances, which could well be the case with uncertain weather predicted tomorrow.”

TYRE GAP

FRIDAY TYRE SUMMARY

• Mercedes was fastest in the morning session courtesy of Valtteri Bottas, while Red Bull and Max Verstappen were quickest of all in the afternoon: seven-tenths of a second faster than Bottas’s FP1 time. In both free practice sessions, the P Zero Red soft compound was used to set the best time.
• Conditions were cool all day, with some drops of rain as well: although not during any of the Formula 1 sessions. These cool and humid conditions, typical of Spa, are expected to remain for the rest of the weekend.
• All three P Zero compounds were sampled during free practice, with each set to play a valid role in the race strategy on Sunday.
• Other stand-out performances in FP2 include Daniel Ricciardo, who was second for Renault, just behind Verstappen, and Alex Albon – fourth in the other Red Bull.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“With a softer compound choice here compared to last year, the work today mainly consisted of assessing the performance of the soft, to see how it could fit into the overall race strategy. With Spa being the longest lap of the year, the differences between the compounds are magnified and the difficulty of putting together a perfect lap increases. Conditions today were tricky but quite normal for Spa, with ambient temperatures consistently under 20 degrees centigrade and a track made slippery by some light rainfall, but all three compounds still offered performance in line with expectations and this weather seems set to be representative of the rest of the weekend. We’re seeing a bigger time gap between the medium and soft compounds than anticipated so far, which will clearly have an effect on qualifying strategies tomorrow – making it harder to get through Q2 on the medium.”

• For the Belgian Grand Prix, Pirelli’s C2 compound has been selected as the P Zero White hard, C3 as the P Zero Yellow medium, and C4 as the P Zero Red soft. This is a step softer than the nomination at Spa last year.
• This choice has been made because most drivers chose the medium and soft tyres last year. In fact, many drivers selected a full allocation of 10 soft tyres in 2019 and only one hard (although this will not be possible this year as all the allocations are standard: two sets of hard, three sets of medium, and eight sets of soft).

TRACK CHARACTERISTICS

• Weather in Belgium at this time of year is extremely variable. Although high temperatures have occasionally been seen at Spa in the past, in the Ardennes we’re unlikely to have the same sort of weather as Spain (last year’s Belgian Grand Prix was run with track temperatures consistently below 30 degrees centigrade) – and rain is always a distinct possibility. It is even possible for it to be raining on one part of the track but dry on another. If it does rain, drainage is a common problem, with little rivers forming across the track that can cause aquaplaning. This is another reason why the tyres in the middle of the range have been selected.
• This variation is also because the 7.004-kilometre lap – the longest in Formula 1 – is so extensive and mixed, with epic corners such as Eau Rouge imposing heavy combined forces on the tyres: both vertical and lateral. As a result, Spa is one of the most challenging circuits for tyres seen all year. The asphalt is also quite aggressive in nature.
• It is not just the corners that provide a big challenge: at nearly 800 metres long the Kemmel Straight cools the tyres down, affecting grip throughout the following corners.
• Despite the imposing demands of Spa, it was largely a one-stop race last year, with the top three all using a soft-medium strategy (with a nomination that was a step harder). Three of the drivers in the top 10 stopped twice, while Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo did practically the entire race on the medium after a very early stop.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“The reputation of Spa speaks for itself: it’s an old-school track with plenty of elevation and other variables, which the drivers love because of the many challenges and sensations that it delivers. This year’s tyre selection is a step softer than last year’s, even though we expect the cars to be considerably faster, as has been the case for most of the season so far. Spa is one of the few rounds this year that has not had a date change compared to its traditional slot, so the teams should have plenty of relevant data, even though this is probably the circuit where it’s hardest to predict the conditions. So the teams and drivers who are best able to rapidly adapt to changing circumstances tend to be those most rewarded. One difference this year is that the Spa 24 Hours hasn’t taken place as usual a couple of weeks ago: it will be interesting to see if that has any effect – although any rubber that is previously laid down is often washed away by rain in any case. Finally, but most importantly, I am sure that Anthoine Hubert will be at the forefront of everybody’s minds this weekend and we would all like to pay tribute to him, a year on from his passing”.

OTHER PIRELLI NEWS

• Formula 2 and Formula 3 keeps up its unbroken record at Spa of having appeared at every grand prix weekend so far this year.
• Pirelli’s 18-year-old rally star Oliver Solberg set another record recently, becoming the youngest driver to win the same FIA European Rally Championship event in consecutive years. Having become the youngest-ever driver to win an ERC event on Rally Liepaja in Latvia last year, he repeated his win there a couple of weeks ago

• Mercedes driver Hamilton won in Spain from pole with a two-stop soft-medium-medium tyre strategy: the same as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in second at the end. However, Verstappen stopped a few laps before Hamilton on each occasion.
• The other Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas finished third, also starting on the soft before moving onto the medium, but the Finn stopped twice again: for the soft tyre and then for the medium, making his third and final stop with two laps to go. He took the extra championship point for fastest lap.
• While the majority of drivers completed two stops, some did just one: with Racing Point’s Sergio Perez in fifth starting on soft and switching to medium, while Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel started on medium from P11 on the grid and then did an exceptionally long final stint on the soft to secure seventh.
• McLaren’s Carlos Sainz finished sixth with a soft-soft-medium strategy while Red Bull’s Alex Albon was eighth with another unique strategy: soft-hard-medium. Albon was the only driver to use the hard throughout the race.
• As a result, there were seven different strategies seen in the top eight.
• The overall race time in Barcelona was nearly 10 minutes faster than 2014: the first year of the hybrid turbo era. That translates into an average lap time that is more than eight seconds per lap faster: a rate of development that the tyres have been able to constantly keep pace with.

HOW EACH TYRE PERFORMED

• HARD C1: Used only by Albon during the race, with this compound offering a lower level of grip at the Circuit de Catalunya compared to the two others.
• MEDIUM C2: One of the main race tyres here that also proved itself capable of long stints: Hamilton said after the race that he even briefly thought about doing a one-stopper, but then decided with his team to stick to the two-stop plan. Claimed the point for fastest lap with Valtteri Bottas.
• SOFT C3: Used by all the top 10 of the grid to take the start and combined performance with durability to even enable some one-stop strategies.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“Managing the tyres in these demanding conditions with nearly 50 degrees of track temperatures was a big challenge, especially on the soft tyre. Nonetheless, we saw stints of more than 30 laps on them, which was extremely impressive, leading to some one-stop strategies that we didn’t expect. In particular, Racing Point’s Sergio Perez was fifth with soft-medium one-stopper, while Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel also stopped once with a brave strategy, going from medium to soft. Despite the hottest temperatures that many of the drivers have ever raced and a wide range of demands, the tyres stood up extremely well to the challenge.”

A one-stop race is going to be marginal on wear, whichever combination of tyres is used, so the best way is definitely a two-stopper for the 66-lap grand prix. The fastest way on paper is two 19-lap stints on the soft compound plus a 28-lap run on the mediums, probably using the medium for the second stint (so soft-medium-soft).
The second-fastest approach would be a three-stopper: three stints on soft of 15 laps each plus 21 laps on the medium – again probably running the medium for the second of those stints (soft-medium-soft-soft). There is always a risk in making several pit stops, so some teams may want to avoid this.
Finally, the third-fastest way at the moment is another two-stopper, and this will come into its own if temperatures are higher or degradation on the soft is a bit more than expected. That is starting on the soft for 16 laps and then doing two 25-lap stints on the medium (soft-medium-medium).
All these strategies are just theoretical of course, as they naturally depend on the individual circumstances of the race and each car – as well as the tyre sets that each driver has available to them.

FOCUS ON

• Soft tyre. All the drivers used the soft tyre to get through Q2, meaning that the top 10 is guaranteed to start on this compound tomorrow, almost certainly leading to a two-stop strategy for most.
• Hot weather. Track temperatures peaked at nearly 50 degrees today and similarly warm conditions are expected tomorrow, making thermal degradation a factor.
• Sebastian Vettel. The Ferrari driver qualified P11 and as such will be the first driver to have a free choice of tyres tomorrow: he may choose to do something different.
• Different strategies. With a two or more stops expected, there’s a wide variety of potential strategies, as described above. All the stints are interchangeable: so those outside the top 10 could start on a tyre that’s not the soft and vary the order in which they use the tyres, depending on how the race pans out.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“All the drivers concentrated on the soft in qualifying, which was a slight surprise, perhaps because of the established performance gap to the medium and the pace of the frontrunners. This means that we can almost certainly expect two stops during the race tomorrow, and we’re unlikely to see much use of the hard, as there’s a big gap to the medium too. Key to tomorrow’s race in these very warm conditions will be managing wear and degradation on the soft. There’s plenty of scope for those starting lower down the grid to try something a bit different, so hopefully we’ll see another interesting race tomorrow with lots of variations in strategy.”

FRIDAY TYRE SUMMARY

• Track temperatures exceeded 50 degrees today in the afternoon, but it was Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas who set the fastest time on the P Zero Red soft compound in the morning, comfortably improving the equivalent time from free practice last year. His team mate Lewis Hamilton went quickest in the afternoon’s FP2 session, also on soft, but failed to beat Bottas’s time from FP1.
• With the three hardest tyres in the P Zero F1 range nominated for the very first Spanish Grand Prix to be held in August, the teams concentrated on understanding how the three compounds performed in these high temperatures, over both short and long runs with different fuel loads.
• With the high temperatures set to persist tomorrow, teams also evaluated the possibility of going through Q2 on the medium compound.
• While the top three in both sessions today were familiar – the two Mercedes, followed by the Red Bull of Max Verstappen – there were some strong performances in FP2 from Daniel Ricciardo’s Renault in fourth and Romain Grosjean’s Haas in fifth.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“Tyre performance today was in line with our expectations, with the gaps between the compounds as we thought they would be. Today’s work consisted of evaluation of all the different compounds, with assessment of the soft over the course of one lap as well as over a longer run probably being one of the keys to the strategy. So far, there’s a distinct performance gap between the soft and the hard, which makes it important to understand how to maximise the soft, with some teams perhaps already looking at a potential two-stop strategy involving the soft, in order to capitalise on the extra speed. That analysis will continue overnight, but all three compounds look set to play an interesting role here as things stand, as we saw from the extensive running on each compound throughout free practice.”

• The Spanish Grand Prix is held at the familiar venue of the Circuit de Catalunya, but in the heat of mid-August for the first time. The three hardest compounds in the F1 tyre range have been selected: C1 as P Zero White hard, C2 as P Zero Yellow Medium, and C3 as P Zero Red soft.
• This was actually the same compound choice as last year, because as well as being very hot in summer, the Montmelo circuit is always a big challenge for tyres at any time of year. The main reason for this is the high-energy corners such as Turn 3, which generate considerable G forces.

TRACK CHARACTERISTICS

• Although the teams all tested at Barcelona in February and March, there is set to be a dramatic temperature increase this weekend in the height of summer.
• The Circuit de Catalunya was resurfaced two years ago, but the track has progressively matured since, bringing the surface more into line with how it used to be.
• All but one of the drivers stopped for tyres twice last year, in a race that was affected by a lengthy safety car period towards the end. There were four different strategies in the top five, at a race in mid-May with track temperatures in excess of 40 degrees.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“Barcelona concludes the second triple-header of this intense season to date. Although it will be the third time that the teams drive at the Circuit de Catalunya this year, following the two pre-season tests, the conditions they will encounter this weekend are likely to be very different: both because of the warm weather, and all the improvements made to the cars since winter testing. The expected high temperatures in Barcelona in mid-August will increase thermal degradation on a track already well-known for being tough on tyres, so it’s going to be particularly important to manage them and control any overheating that affects traction. Free practice will be crucial to accurately establishing tyre behaviour under these challenging circumstances. With the current cars being faster than ever – as Silverstone recently confirmed – and the Spanish Grand Prix never being run in August before, this should be the most demanding race for tyres we’ve seen at the Circuit de Catalunya.”

OTHER PIRELLI NEWS

• As has been the case for every race weekend so far this year, the Pirelli-equipped Formula 2 and Formula 3 feeder series will race alongside Formula 1.
• Last weekend, the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup got underway at Misano in Italy, with Team WRT Audi emerging on top after winning two out of three races, while AKKA ASP Mercedes duo won race two.
• During the same weekend as the Spanish Grand Prix, round two of the European Rally Championship takes place in Latvia – with Pirelli aiming to repeat its winning result from the first round last month in Rome.
• The planned test of 2021 prototype tyres during the first half-hour of FP2 in Spain has been rescheduled for a later grand prix, in order to give time to design some new prototypes for next year.

• Red Bull driver Max Verstappen’s masterful tyre strategy helped him win the 70^th Anniversary Grand Prix from fourth on the grid. He was the only one of the top 10 on the grid to start on the hard tyre, and used their durability to run a longer first stint, which allowed him to move into the lead and then defend his advantage.
• Verstappen used a hard-medium-hard strategy, one of only two drivers to do so (the other was McLaren’s Carlos Sainz). Verstappen finished ahead of both Mercedes, which started from first and second on the grid, and used a similar medium-hard-hard strategy.
• Nearly all the drivers stopped twice, but Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc stopped just once to move from eighth on the grid to fourth at the finish. Renault’s Esteban Ocon was the only other driver to finish in the top 10 with just one stop. Both Leclerc and Ocon started on medium and then went on to hard.
• Four drivers stopped three times, with 19 drivers out of 20 finishing the race.
• Temperatures were slightly warmer than yesterday, with track temperatures in excess of 40 degrees centigrade throughout the race and a tyre nomination that was one step softer than last week’s British Grand Prix.

HOW EACH TYRE PERFORMED

• HARD C2: This was key to Verstappen’s victory, which was set up by his decision to use the white tyre in Q2 yesterday, and so start the race with it. Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton also used this tyre to set fastest lap in the race and claim an extra championship point.
• MEDIUM C3: The other key to the race was the equivalent of last weekend’s soft tyre, used by the majority of drivers to start the 70^th Anniversary Grand Prix.
• SOFT C4: The softest tyre ever nominated for Silverstone was only used by Racing Point’s Nico Hulkenberg for the final stint today, but it still provided a fundamental element to the race weekend by prompting some lateral thinking on strategy with the other available compounds.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“This weekend’s race was all about pure strategy, judged to perfection by Red Bull and Max Verstappen. His strategy began on Saturday afternoon, with the brave decision to run the hard tyre in Q2 and so start the race with it, which clearly paid off. Once he had gained track position by virtue of his longer first stint, he was able to control both the Mercedes behind him, which had nonetheless shown the pace to qualify first and second. Although Silverstone is one of the most demanding tracks on tyres, and the compounds were a step softer than last week, this all provided a challenge that helped to spice up the show. We saw some blistering as expected, but only on a few cars and nothing that affected the race outcome. Tyre management was an integral part of the tactics today, but the drivers certainly rose to the occasion and the viewers enjoyed an exciting and unpredictable race”.

With the tyres nominated here (a step softer than last week) a one-stop strategy for the 52-lap race is unadvisable, so a two-stopper is set to be the strategy. The quickest way depends on track temperature and resulting wear on the medium tyre, but optimally it would be to do two stints on the medium tyre of 15 laps each and then a final stint on the hard of 22 laps.
Alternatively, 12 laps on the medium, followed by two stints of 20 laps each on the hard.
The second-quickest strategy is to start on the hard with two stints of 23 laps each, then finish on the soft.
Very close to that is a two-stopper with 19 laps on the medium, 25 laps on the hard and eight laps on the soft. The hard and the medium stints can be swapped here.

FOCUS ON

• Medium tyre. All but one of the drivers in the top 10 on the grid set their fastest Q2 time on the medium tyre, and so will start the race on this compound tomorrow, as per our fastest predicted strategy.
• Max Verstappen. The sole exception was Red Bull driver Max Verstappen who got through Q2 on the hard tyre and so will start the race from P4 on this compound.
• Temperatures. Track temperatures were around 40 degrees throughout qualifying, with similar conditions expected tomorrow. Wind was also a factor, which is often a complication at Silverstone, affecting aerodynamic balance. This could be one factor in the cars being slightly slower compared to last week’s qualifying, despite having a softer tyre choice.
• Quali strategies. Unusually, there were different strategies in Q3 as well. Having begun Q3 on the soft tyres, both Mercedes drivers set first and second fastest times using the medium compound.
• Nico Hulkenberg. The stand-in Racing Point driver will start his first grand prix since Abu Dhabi 2019 from third on the grid, having set his best time on the soft tyre.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“This was a very unusual qualifying session, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen starting tomorrow on the hard tyres by using them to get through Q2: which is probably a first in our Formula 1 history. He should be able to benefit from the extra durability of this compound throughout the first stint when the cars are heavy with fuel. We also saw the top two fastest times in Q3 set with the medium rather than the soft tyre. These facts alone indicate how this week’s nomination for the second race of the double-header at Silverstone has been an interesting one, with the soft tyre providing plenty of initial speed and then dropping off, while the pattern is the opposite for the medium. We knew that the soft was never going to be an ideal race tyre, but the high level of wear and degradation seen on it even in qualifying underlines how the medium and the hard should be the default choice for tomorrow’s strategies. We’re expecting a two-stopper, so there are a number of variables that could play out.”

FRIDAY TYRE SUMMARY

• The key task for the teams during free practice on Friday was to acclimatise to the soft C4 compound, which has not been run at Silverstone before, and assess its characteristics in these warm conditions on a very severe track.
• Ambient temperatures peaked at 34 degrees centigrade at lunchtime, while track temperatures hit 48 degrees in the afternoon. This provided a big challenge for the tyres: especially the left-front.
• The teams were able to capitalise upon their knowledge of Silverstone set-up from last weekend and focus on performance. Using the softer C4 compound, the fastest time in FP2 was 1.6 seconds quicker than it was at this time last week.
• All three nominated compounds were used during free practice, with the teams concentrating on the hard and the medium at the start of FP2 to gather information that will be vital when it comes to establishing a race strategy.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“With a nomination that’s one step softer compared to last weekend and a track that is notoriously demanding on tyres, the teams certainly had plenty to think about and try out in free practice, even though they were only here a week ago. With two stops likely to be the norm on Sunday, a wide variety of race strategies are possible. As expected on the softest compound in particular, we saw some blistering, but also a very rapid speed over one lap that’s likely to lead to a new track record this weekend. There’s no doubt that the soft won’t be the favoured race tyre, so the challenge is to get the most out of it as part of an overall grand prix weekend strategy, which will start with the decisions made during qualifying tomorrow. The information gained today will be an important part of that decision-making process.”

KEY MOMENTS

• Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton dominated the race from pole with a one-stop strategy, switching from medium to hard tyres under the safety car on lap 13. His front-left tyre went down on the final lap, for reasons that are still being investigated, but he still managed to win the race.
• His team mate Valtteri Bottas and McLaren’s Carlos Sainz also had tyre-related issues on the penultimate and final laps respectively.
• Red Bull’s Max Verstappen eventually finished second, having made a second stop at the end of the race to switch to the soft and claim the extra championship point for fastest lap.
• Temperatures were similar to yesterday, with around 40 degrees of track temperature, following an exceptionally hot Friday.
• The only driver not to stop during the safety car was Haas driver Romain Grosjean, who stayed out on his original set of medium tyres to gain track position. After 36 laps, he switched to the hard.

HOW EACH TYRE PERFORMED

• HARD C1: Used by nearly all the drivers for the final stint. Racing Point’s Nico Hulkenberg would have been the only driver to have taken them at the start of the race, but was ruled out before his car got to the grid.
• MEDIUM C2: The top four on the grid started on this compound, with three of them on the final podium.
• SOFT C3: Used by only five drivers at the start of the race, as well as by Verstappen and Bottas at the end of the race.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING

“We’ll of course be investigating exactly what happened to the tyres on the two Mercedes cars as well as that on the McLaren of Carlos Sainz in the final two laps of the race. What we already know for sure is that the tyres involved in these failures were extremely well-used, with nearly 40 laps of running; albeit some behind the safety car. The race was very much influenced by the safety car, with the second one prompting a pit stop for nearly everyone, leading to a very long second stint. After a complete analysis we will be able to understand fully what happened, which will obviously be very valuable information for next weekend.”