This figure reflects one of the most demanding seasons in the history of the championship, after the calendar expanded to 24 races last year. On these 24 circuits, spread out over five continents, Pirelli had to deliver performance, reliability and adaptability in conditions ranging from the extreme heat of the Arabian desert to the biting cold of Nevada.

The 2025 slick tyre range, made up of six compounds, accounted for 96% of the total mileage. The two most widely used compounds, confirming their versatility and strategic importance, were the C3 (93,493 kilometres) and C4 (91,595 kilometres). These were followed by the C5 (66,255 kilometres), C2 (35,012 kilometres), C6 (22,419 kilometres) and C1 (17,368 kilometres). Wet weather tyres covered the remaining 4%: 12,893 kilometres on intermediates and 2,064 kilometres on full wets.

In total, the tyres completed 67,094 laps – with a similar split between slicks and wets: 64,519 laps on slicks and 2,578 on wets (about 4%). Across all the races, 720 pit stops were made. The record was the Spanish Grand Prix, with 53 stops in Barcelona. Miami had the fewest pit stops, with only 18.

The longest stint of the year came from Haas driver Esteban Ocon, who covered 303 kilometres on a single set of C3 tyres in Jeddah, equating to 49 laps. The Frenchman also stood out in Baku, covering 294 kilometres on a set of C4 to confirm his tyre management skills.

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly recorded the longest run on the C2, completing 251 kilometres in Shanghai, while Aston  Martin’s Lance Stroll covered 222 kilometres on the C5 in Baku. McLaren’s Lando Norris and Sauber’s Nico Hülkenberg each drove 194 kilometres on a set of intermediates at Silverstone. The longest continuous use of full wets was 61 kilometres during the Las Vegas weekend: 10 laps each for the two Aston Martin drivers as well as for Hülkenberg.

The number of tyre sets supplied by Pirelli over the course of the season highlights the logistical complexity of motorsport’s pinnacle. In 2025, teams had access to 6,120 sets of slicks in total, comprising 1,800 sets of C5, 1,580 sets of C4, 1,400 sets of C3 and around 1,900 wet weather tyres. The number of tyres allocated to each car, which varies depending on the weekend format, is clearly defined by the technical regulations.

As always, temperatures also influenced tyre behaviour. The highest track temperature recorded during a session was 58.2 degrees centigrade at Jeddah during FP2, while the highest air temperature was 39.1 degrees centigrade in Bahrain during FP1. The coldest conditions were in Las Vegas, with 12 degrees centigrade on track and 11.8 degrees centigrade ambient during qualifying. During the actual races, peak track temperature was 55.2 degrees centigrade at Spielberg, while the highest air temperature was 34.4 degrees centigrade in Texas. The lowest temperatures were 15 degrees centigrade on track in Las Vegas and 14.3 degrees centigrade ambient in Melbourne.

The Formula 1 P Zero covers were not the only Pirelli tyres to take to the track. The Pirelli Hot Laps programme, featuring Pirelli-equipped supercars on the world’s grand prix circuits, was held this year at seven events. The lucky passengers completed 2,528 laps across 32 sessions, using 12 car models from seven different manufacturers.

At the wheel were 69 drivers, ranging from current stars such as Fernando Alonso, Max Verstappen, George Russell, Oscar Piastri, Kimi Antonelli, and Oliver Bearman, to emerging young talents like Paul Aron, Arthur Leclerc, Chloe Chambers and Jak Crawford. Former world champions and race winners also took part – including Mika Häkkinen, Jenson Button, Ralf Schumacher, and Pedro de la Rosa – alongside endurance and GT specialists: all underscoring the breadth and prestige of the programme.

Another significant figure came from an off-track initiative. A show tyre, donated by Pirelli and signed by a selection of Formula 1 drivers, was auctioned by RM Sotheby’s during the final race weekend as part of Abu Dhabi Collector’s Week, fetching $31,200 USD. The entire proceeds were donated to the Make-A-Wish^®  UAE foundation, which helps make the dreams of children suffering from serious illnesses come true.

From extreme temperatures and strategic complexity to logistical challenges and the Hot Laps program, the 2025 season once again highlighted Pirelli’s crucial role as Formula 1’s global partner.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won the race from pole, while the other title protagonist, Oscar Piastri, was second. All three drivers adopted different tyre strategies for the 58-lap race, which got underway at 17:00 in daylight and continued for nearly two hours into the night.

Verstappen started on the medium and then switched to the hard on lap 24, whereas Piastri did the opposite by starting on the hard and then moving to the medium on lap 42.

Norris however made two pit stops: starting on the medium and then completing two stints on the hard to reach the finish.

Piastri actually managed to pass his team mate on the opening lap despite being on the harder tyre, but the strategy selected for Norris was enough to guarantee him the final podium place required to clinch the title by two points from Verstappen.

All three compounds were seen on the grid, with some drivers further down the order choosing to start on the soft tyre. Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg, celebrating his 250^th grand prix, was one of them: making up more places than any other driver – nine – after starting from P18 and finishing ninth with a two-stop strategy.

With no safety cars, retirements, or yellow flags it was a straightforward fight to the finish: with the three drivers who have dominated the season locking out the podium.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

“Congratulations to Lando Norris on winning his first drivers’ title. The battle went all the way to the final round of the season – which was one of the most closely-fought of the last few years thanks to the similarly competitive pace of the different teams. Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri certainly didn’t hold back today, giving us a thrilling final.

In terms of strategy, the majority of the teams opted for a one-stopper using the most consistent two compounds as we expected: in some cases, stretching the hard tyre stint for more than 40 laps.  Even though there was no graining on the hardest compound, there were still inevitably some signs of wear in the final laps.

Among the drivers choosing the alternative strategy, the newly crowned champion Lando Norris stands out. He went for a two-stopper, probably prompted by the extra pit stop for Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, using the two fresh sets of hard tyres that McLaren had saved in their build-up to the race.

Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton also used a fresh set of tyres for his final stint, which in this case was the medium. This excellent choice allowed him to make up several places, underlining how close the two strategic options were, as shown by our simulations.

Pirelli’s job does not stop here: we will be back on track on Tuesday together with all the teams for a full test day, A total of 10 mule cars piloted by the race drivers will try out the new 2026 tyre range, while 10 young drivers will take to the track with this year’s cars and tyres.”

For the 33-lap feature race, held in the heat of the day with track temperatures of 42 degrees, there was a mixture of supersoft and medium tyres on the grid – with those at the front favouring the faster compound for a quick getaway. Roman Stanek led from pole, but the first of  two safety car periods was already in place by lap two.

Most of the supersoft runners, including the leader, came in shortly after the pit window opened on lap six, while the medium runners – headed by newly crowned champion Leonardo Fornaroli – ran a longer opening stint, pitting with three laps to go. By the time all the stops had shaken out, AIX Racing’s Joshua Duerksen took the lead to seal an identical win in Abu Dhabi to the one that he had claimed last year: starting in P8 and finishing first. Stanek’s runner-up spot was enough to clinch the 2025 teams’ title for Invicta Racing, while Campos Racing’s Arvid Lindblad was the highest-placed driver to run the alternative medium-supersoft strategy, eventually ending up ninth from 10^th on the grid.

The Dutchman’s time on both his first and second runs in Q3 were good enough for pole: two tenths of a second faster than the McLarens – which line up second and third with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri respectively.

This means that all three title contenders will start the decider together at the front of the grid, after an extremely close qualifying session. Tactics already played a part, with some drivers aiming to benefit from an aerodynamic tow down the straights during qualifying.

All the drivers used the soft tyre to set their fastest laps, with Verstappen selecting scrubbed tyres in Q2 before sealing his fifth pole in Abu Dhabi on a new set: going three tenths of a second faster than last year’s pole position.

With the competitive margins so closely poised, drivers will be relying heavily on tyre strategy to make a difference in the 58-lap race tomorrow, which gets underway at 17:00: one hour before today’s qualifying time.

The session started today under the lights in ambient temperatures of 25.6 degrees centigrade and track temperatures of 27.5 degrees, remaining largely consistent throughout the hour-long session.

The Pirelli Pole Position Award was given to Verstappen by Benson Boone. The American singer dominated the charts in 2024 with his hit ‘Beautiful Things’: the best-selling single of the year. Boone, who performed in concert at Yas Marina on Thursday night, has a new album out called ‘American Heart’.

Tomorrow, Verstappen will also receive the 2025 Pirelli Pole Position of the Year award, which he sealed with his result today. The Red Bull driver pulled clear of Norris in the final rankings for overall pole positions during the season, sealing his eighth pole of 2025: one more than his McLaren rival.

THE DAY ON TRACK 

Track temperatures were the hottest they have been all weekend (36 degrees centigrade) for FP3, which began at 13:30. Running was consequently limited in the non-representative conditions; especially at the start of the session. Nonetheless, all the drivers eventually ventured out on a combination of medium and soft compounds, with Aston Martin being the only team to scrub in hard tyres. In the closing minutes, as track evolution ramped up grip, Mercedes driver George Russell went quickest on the soft by just 0.004s from Norris. The session was interrupted by a red flag halfway through the hour, after the Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton – the most successful driver in the history of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – went off.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT

“Congratulations to Max Verstappen, who sealed pole just when it mattered most. In qualifying, some drivers chose to keep new soft C5 tyres for the quickest laps in the final Q3 session, even though we saw that used softs were still capable of setting fast times after a few cool-down laps.

Looking at the tyre sets that the teams have kept back for the race, there are two different approaches. McLaren is the only team that has saved two sets of new hards, while most other teams – including Red Bull – have saved two sets of mediums. This shows that teams are keeping the possibility of two stops open, but only McLaren – the winners of the constructors’ championship this year – have gone for the most conservative option.

The two quickest strategies tomorrow are one-stoppers. One option is to start on the medium and switch to the hard between laps 20 and 26. An alternative is to start on the hard and then take advantage of the soft’s extra performance by stopping between laps 39 and 45.

A two-stop strategy seems to be a bit less competitive, especially given the difficulty of overtaking here. The best way to do it is with a combination of medium and hard for the first two stints, followed by a final stint on the medium – which in theory would be quicker for the run to the flag than the hard or the soft under these circumstances.

It's not been possible to assess how graining has progressed from the short runs seen today, but there is no evidence of it so far this evening. Track evolution suggests that the situation will be better compared to Friday, especially thanks to the tyre management that we expect from the drivers during the grand prix.”

On his final weekend as an F2 driver, Arvid Lindblad took his third victory in the series after leading from pole. His Campos Racing team mate Nikola Tsolov claimed a debut podium in third, behind runner-up Joshua Duerksen (AIX Racing), who briefly challenged for the lead after a virtual safety car with two laps to go.

With Invicta failing to score today, the F2 teams’ championship will now be settled tomorrow: although the reigning champion team still holds a significant advantage.

All the drivers used the medium tyre throughout the 23-lap race, which got underway at 16:00. With no pit stops in the sprint, managing wear and degradation efficiently was key to success.

All three tyre compounds were seen on the grid and at the chequered flag, but the pivotal moment was the appearance of a safety car on lap seven: for the fourth time at four races held in Qatar so far.

With most drivers starting on the medium tyre, all but the two McLarens pitted to put on a fresh set of tyres under the safety car – with Verstappen, who had forced his way up to second from third on the grid, the first to come in.

Pitting under the safety car carries an advantage of roughly 10 seconds compared to green flag running, and it was here that Verstappen built his crucial advantage.

Adding to the tactical complexity today was the fact that each tyre set had a 25-lap limit specifically for the 57-lap Qatar Grand Prix: meaning that the McLarens were then out of sync with everybody else in terms of strategy.

The other drivers had to pit by lap 32 for their final stops, with McLaren staying out longer on each stint as a result of their earlier decision not to pit under the safety car.

Oscar Piastri relinquished the lead on lap 42 for his last pit stop, with his team mate Lando Norris coming in two laps later as Verstappen consolidated the lead.

Nearly all the drivers ran their two opening stints on the medium before switching to the hard for the final stint, including all three podium finishers. Piastri set the fastest lap of the race on both the medium and the hard tyres – with the overall fastest lap, which was also the new race lap record of 1m22.996s, coming on the hard compound on lap 44.

That final place on the podium was claimed by Williams driver Carlos Sainz, who adopted a perfect strategy to clinch his second podium of the year from seventh on the grid.

Conditions were cool at the challenging Lusail circuit this year, with ambient temperatures of 22 degrees centigrade and 23 degrees on track as the race got going under the spotlights at 19:00 local time.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

“All the strategic choices in today’s race were conditioned by the arrival of the safety car. The compound considered to be the best compromise between getting good grip right from the start, and also maintaining an adequate performance level throughout the duration of the stint, was the medium.

Although nearly every driver only used the hard for the final stint to the flag, the C1 compound would also have been competitive halfway through the race. The lap times showed that in some cases it offered better performance than the C2 medium in the final laps. All the compounds displayed very limited wear, allowing drivers to push to the maximum.

There was a lot less graining compared to previous days, which reduced cases of extreme wear but did not eliminate them entirely. As a result, the 25-lap limit was shown to be appropriate to avoid any issues.

The fascinating twists and turns of this race, with unprecedented levels of performance and new circuit records set throughout the weekend, reflect an entire season with closer competition than ever. So it’s perhaps no surprise that the championship now gets decided at the last race, with three very worthy contenders going into battle for the final time next weekend.”

Leonardo Fornaroli is Italy’s latest champion as the Invicta driver converted pole to championship victory in the 22-lap Formula 2 feature race, where he finished runner-up. Fornaroli had actually qualified second too, but a grid penalty for MP Motorsport’s Oliver Goethe promoted the Italian to the top spot.

The majority of drivers elected to start the race on the soft tyre, with seven drivers (outside of the top 10 on the grid) choosing the hard.

With the race taking part in the heat of the day, drivers faced a much faster tyre warm-up compared to yesterday’s night sprint. The mandatory pit stop window opened from lap six, so it was a case of maintaining optimal performance from the soft throughout the first quarter of the race. In the closing stages, managing wear life was key.

Eventual winner Victor Martins (ART Grand Prix) jumped Fornaroli at the start, and made his stop for the hard tyre on lap seven. Once all the stops had shuffled through, Martins maintained his advantage – despite a mid-race safety car – while second for Fornaroli was enough to seal the title: giving him back-to-back championships in F3 and F2.

The alternative strategy from hard to soft proved to be generally less effective, but the timing of the safety car still made it more viable than expected. Notably, Arvid Lindblad (Campos Racing) started from P17 on the hard tyre than finished in P4 with the soft.

With his sixth pole position of the season under the lights of the Lusail circuit on Saturday evening, Piastri further lowered the track record he set in sprint qualifying to 1m19.387s, using the soft tyre (nearly 1.2 seconds faster than last year’s pole).

The softest compound was chosen by all drivers from start to finish of qualifying, which got underway at 21:00 in temperatures of 21 degrees ambient and 24 degrees on track.

In these cool temperatures, some drivers chose a two-lap run to warm the tyres before embarking on their flying laps.

There were two short delays during qualifying: a brief pause before Q2 to sweep up some loose gravel, with the sharp edges having caused some cuts to the tyres on Friday in particular. The final Q3 session was then effectively split in two, after a red flag to retrieve plastic debris, following the first run that was headed by Norris – who had also set a new track record.

But Piastri was able to hit back and go even faster on the decisive second run, with the three title protagonists now occupying the first three places on Sunday’s grid. If Piastri can finish ahead of his team mate, the title fight stays alive to Abu Dhabi.

The Pirelli Pole Position Award was given to Piastri by Alton Mason. The American – mentored by Naomi Campbell – is one of the most in-demand models on catwalks all over the world, having been elected Model of the Year five times in a row. In 2022 he also starred in the ‘Elvis’ movie biopic, alongside Austin Butler and Tom Hanks. 

THE DAY ON TRACK 

The final sprint race of the year got underway at 17:00 local time in ambient temperatures of 26 degrees and track temperatures of 30 degrees. All the drivers started on used medium tyres, apart from the two Alpines and the Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton: which started at the back and fitted new mediums.

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri led all 19 laps from pole to take his first sprint race win of the year, having never been seriously challenged. This was Piastri’s third consecutive sprint win in Qatar, having also triumphed here in 2023 and 2024.

With all six sprint races now complete, the unofficial ‘sprint championship’ winners of 2025 are Max Verstappen are Lando Norris, who each claimed two victories, with Lewis Hamilton and now Piastri taking the others. Verstappen however retains the all-time record for sprint wins, with 13 under his belt since the format was inaugurated in 2021. 

The 23-lap Formula 2 sprint race on Saturday evening was turned on its head by a late safety car period that ended seven laps from the finish. Seven drivers further down the order used this neutralisation to switch from the hard tyre, which everyone started on, to the soft in the hope of a rapid final stint. Polesitter Richard Verschoor (MP Motorsport) stayed out to seal a record-equalling eighth F2 win, while Invicta’s Roman Stanek was the highest-placed finisher to take a pit stop, crossing the line in P13.

Nonetheless, Verschoor was still able to set fastest laps at the finish – underlining the consistent performance of the hard tyre even against new softs. A shorter second safety car period concluded with just one lap to go, with the interruptions generally helping to reduce the heavy wear demands on tyres at Lusail.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT

“The only difference in tyre choice for the sprint race was new or used mediums, depending on the results from sprint qualifying – as the few drivers not to get through SQ1 were able to use new tyres. Three drivers also made a pit stop in the sprint race to try out the soft tyres, probably to assess their potential use in Sunday’s grand prix.

Just as was the case last year, we saw some tyres where graining had accelerated wear: taking it to the maximum but without any loss of performance. These instances, noted mainly on the front-left tyres, are exactly why the limit of 25 laps on each set has been imposed.

The considerably faster lap times compared not only to last year but also the latest simulations has led to a bigger increase in loads on the tyres than expected. As a precaution, we already prescribed an increase in minimum pressures of 1 psi on both axles at the end of Friday.

We saw some more cuts on some of the tyre treads during Saturday, but fewer than Friday. The two pit stops expected on Sunday should mitigate this issue. Looking ahead to the race, the sets of mediums kept back by the teams lead to the conclusion that most could go for two stints on the yellow tyre. The fastest strategy is with a final stint on the soft, following a pit stop between laps 44-50. The use of the hard C1 at the beginning, or alternatively between two medium C2 stints, would allow the pit stops to be spread out more evenly during the race – but this is theoretically slower than a strategy that uses all three available compounds.

Medium-hard-soft is the second-quickest tactic on paper, with pit stop windows that are identical to the fastest strategy: between laps 19-25 and 46-50, in accordance with the lap limit. If there are no safety cars, we believe that the teams are likely to maximise the 25 laps allowed for each set.

Another strategy using all three compounds could be hard-medium-soft, with a shorter final stint to the flag. In short, there are plenty of options on the table.”

The 23-lap Formula 2 sprint race on Saturday evening was turned on its head by a late safety car period that ended just seven laps from the finish. Seven drivers further down the order used this neutralisation to switch from the hard tyre, which everyone started on, to the soft tyre in the hope of a rapid final stint. Polesitter Richard Verschoor (MP Motorsport) stayed out to seal his eighth Formula 2 win, while Invicta’s Roman Stanek was the highest-placed finisher to take a pit stop, taking the flag in P13. 

Nonetheless, Verschoor was able to set fastest laps two laps from the finish – underlining the consistent performance of the hard tyre. A shorter second safety car period concluded with just one lap to go, with the interruptions generally helping to reduce the heavy wear demands on tyres at Lusail.

Championship leader Lando Norris came home second for McLaren, having lost the pole advantage to the Dutchman after the start. A disqualification on both McLarens at the end of the race, however, promoted George Russell (Mercedes), last year’s winner, to second place, and his teammate Kimi Antonelli to third.

For Verstappen, who started from second, this was his sixth win of the season and the 69^th of his career. For Red Bull Racing this is win number 128. Verstappen has still a chance of winning the Drivers’ World Championship title. With two Grands Prix and one Sprint race remaining, Norris leads with 390 points, just 24 ahead of his teammate Oscar Piastri and Verstappen.

THE DAY ON TRACK   

The majority of drivers started on the Medium tyre, with five drivers, the Saubers of Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto Alex Albon (Williams), Franco Colapinto (Alpine) and Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) lining up on the Hard. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), later penalised for a jumped start, was the only driver to start on the Softs.

When the lights went out, Norris was over-aggressive in defending his pole position, running wide at the first corner, which allowed Verstappen and Russell, who got ahead of Carlos Sainz, to move ahead of the McLaren.  At half distance – lap 25 of 50 - Verstappen had enough of a gap to pit to switch from Medium to Hard, a compound which proved to be very consistent and still emerge ahead of second placed Russell. Both compounds allowed drivers to push for the whole race, confirming that a one stop, with Medium and Hard was the quickest route to the flag.

The top eight all finished on Hard, while Nico Hulkenberg in ninth was the best of those who did the reverse strategy. Antonelli made up an impressive 13 places to cross the line in fourth place, but a 5 second penalty for jumping the start dropped him down just one place to fifth. The Italian completed all but two of the 50 lap total on the C3, as did Alpine’s Pierre Gasly who finished 15^th. Esteban Ocon who finished 11^th in the Haas, went furthest on the Medium, completing 27 laps on the C4.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

“The night time race in Las Vegas ran very much as had been expected going into the Grand Prix. We witnessed what was effectively a one-stop race, with the Medium and Hard completing the 50 laps between them. Graining was very limited today, seen on only a few cars and then mainly on the front axle. The only useful reference for comparison, at least for the yellow compound, was with FP1, when the tyres had been much more affected by it.

“The decisive factor was probably track condition, the surface being much cleaner than on Friday. Last year, with similar temperatures, the drivers had to make two stops, precisely because of graining whereas this year, even without looking after the tyres, they managed to extend their stints. This is further confirmation of the improved mechanical properties of the current compounds, which indeed we’ve seen throughout the season.

“Max Verstappen’s win, taking the lead shortly after the lights went out, gives us an exceptionally close end to the season, with only two races left to run: the Drivers’ championship is yet to be decided, as is the battle in the Constructors’ behind McLaren.”

Dorian Pin is the 2025 F1 Academy Champion. The PREMA Racing-Mercedes  driver crossed the finish line of the last race of the season, in a safe fifth place, to keep ahead of her only title rival, Maya Weug who finished on the podium in third place for MP Motorsport-Ferrari. The fact that Weug failed to even start yesterday’s race compromised her hopes of overtaking the French woman, who eventually took the crown with a 15 point advantage. First and second today were Campos-Red Bull team-mates Chloe Chambers and Alisha Palmowski, finishing from where they started on the grid. The regulations forbid Pin from racing in this series next year and so she joins the roll of honour alongside previous F1 Academy champions, Marta García (2023) and Abbi Pulling (2024).

The Pirelli Pole Position Award was presented to Norris by Louis Tomlinson, former member of famous British boyband One Direction, today a successful solo artist. On Saturday, before the start of the Grand Prix, he will be entertaining the crowd, singing from the starting grid. His latest single is called Lemonade.

THE DAY ON TRACK 

With overnight rain followed by more precipitation in the morning, the track was too wet for slicks at the start of the final free practice session, with all 20 drivers first venturing out on Intermediates. The cold conditions meant the still-green track took a long time to dry. Norris was the first to attempt running the Softs after around half an hour, but it was not until the final 20 minutes that a dry line began to appear and the C5 was finally viable. George Russell was quickest for Mercedes in 1’34”054, still a long way off the fastest FP2 time from yesterday of 1.33.602, set by Norris.

Rain intensified before the start of qualifying, and the Aston Martins were first out of pit lane on Full Wets, also chosen by Nico Hulkenberg in the Sauber, while the majority opted for Intermediates, which were soon rejected in favour of the Full Wets.

With around four minutes of Q1 remaining, the rain eased but not enough to make Intermediates viable, although the track condition was improving, which meant no one’s lap time was safe. The most surprising driver not to make the cut was seven-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton last in the Ferrari, while George Russell topped the time sheet for Mercedes. The rain stopped in time for Q2, but the remaining drivers were all still on Full Wets. With around 5 minutes of this session remaining, Lance Stroll was the first to venture out on Intermediates, but it was clear there was not enough of a dryer line for them to work effectively. Russell was once again quickest. For Q3, the track was finally dry enough for Intermediates.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT

 “One would never have expected to witness a wet qualifying in the middle of a desert, but Las Vegas continues to surprise us. This afternoon’s free practice provided information that would prove useful for the teams, as over 30% of the laps were run on rain tyres, but clearly it was not enough to have an immediate understanding of what would be the best compound with which to start qualifying. After a first run on Intermediates, it soon became clear that conditions required the use of Full Wets. The extreme rain tyres ensured the drivers had good grip for their first flying laps before the track began to dry, allowing for a switch to the Intermediates. The crossover time between these and the Full Wets established in today’s Free Practice is important information if the same conditions are repeated for the start of the Grand Prix. Looking at possible strategies, obviously we have to assume it will be a dry race, basing the options on drastically reduced available data.

“Given the level of graining encountered on the Soft, this compound seems hardly suitable for an effective race strategy tomorrow. On paper, the quickest combination is based on a one-stop: start on the Medium, then switch to the Hard between laps 20 and 26, to then go for a long final stint. Fitting the yellow-banded tyres for the grid also opens up other competitive options. Teams that have kept two sets of Hards could attempt a two-stopper, Medium-Hard-Hard, switching between laps 12 and 18 and again between laps 27 and 33. A similar alternative for the few left with two sets of the yellow-banded tyres would be to run two initial stints on Medium and then Hard, with a final return to the Medium between laps 32 and 38. Use of the Soft would inevitably involve two stops. The way to make the most out of the qualifying compound could be at the start, until a window between laps 8 and 14 to change onto Mediums for a middle stint before returning to the softest compound, fitting it between laps 34 and 40.” 

The 2025 F1 Academy Drivers’ title will be decided in tomorrow’s very last race of the season. In today’s first race of the Las Vegas weekend, championship leader Dorian Pin (Prema Racing) was first past the chequered flag, thus extending her lead over her only title rival, Maya Weug, who never even made the start, following a collision on the formation lap. The race started and finished behind the Safety Car and alongside Pin on the podium was her team-mate Nina Gademan in second place, with Alisha Palmowski third for Campos Racing. Prema Racing’s one-two finish means the Italian squad has clinched the teams’ title.

McLaren’s Lando Norris took his second consecutive race win after a perfect weekend to stretch his championship lead, Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli scored the best result of his young career with second, while driver of the day was Red Bull’s Max Verstappen: who finished on the podium after starting from the pitlane.

A key factor to this action-packed race was tyre strategy in the cool and challenging conditions, with intermittent drizzly rain at the start of the day and track temperatures that never exceeded 29 degrees centigrade.

At the start, all three compounds were seen on the grid, with Antonelli in second selecting the soft tyres to try to out-drag polesitter Norris on the mediums. However, a safety car on the opening lap, subsequently followed by a virtual safety car, neutralised the action and also had the effect of reducing energy demands through the tyres at a crucial point In the race with cars full of fuel.

Verstappen, who had started on hard tyres from the pits with a fresh set up and new engine, worked his way up to the midfield before lap 10 but was forced to pit early for the medium after picking up a slow puncture on debris from the many incidents – so had his work cut out all over again.

The fight at the front of the field for most of the race was between the two McLarens, which adopted identical two stop medium-soft-medium strategies: however, Oscar Piastri’s progress was blunted by a 10-second penalty for his part in the incident that brought out the virtual safety car.

Verstappen ended up taking a three stop strategy using all three compounds: racing from last to within 10 seconds of the lead at the end of the 71 laps.

While the vast majority of the drivers stopped twice, Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) and Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber) both finished in the points with two different one-stoppers. In total, there were seven different strategy variants adopted by the 17 finishers.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

“Interlagos always springs surprises and delivers fantastic racing. Last year it was the rain to provide the variable that enhanced the show; this year we saw a wide variety of race strategies, which – combined with the unique characteristics of this track – encouraged even more overtaking than normal.

It was impressive to see Max Verstappen starting from the pitlane and getting onto the podium; the reigning world champion never stops amazing us. Congratulations also to young Kimi Antonelli, who managed to defend his second place bravely, and of course to Lando Norris, who sealed a great win from pole.

As we expected the soft and the medium were favoured, and a two-stop strategy was the most common. The degradation levels on the tyres, combined with some early pit stops to take advantage of the neutralisation periods at the start of the race, probably pushed the teams towards that choice, putting the emphasis on the two softer compounds.

The hard didn't really come into play, as it tended to slide a lot on a surface that had been ‘reset’ by the rain the morning. The pit stop windows were different for each driver, creating performance differentials that helped overtaking and gave us a great show as a result.

The only two drivers who finished the grand prix with just one stop obviously had to work their tyres harder than the others, who experienced wear and graining levels that were lower than yesterday. Nonetheless, Liam Lawson and Nico Hulkenberg showed today that a one-stopper was also a perfectly valid strategy. And it's been a long time since we saw such a wide variety of strategies using different compounds, from one to three stops, end up scoring points at the end of a dry race.”

In the closing seconds of Q3 he was joined on the front row by Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli, while Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc starts in the top three of the grid for the third consecutive time.

Conditions remained tricky throughout the qualifying hour, with high winds and track temperatures that peaked at 41 degrees centigrade.

After a slight delay to repair barriers that were damaged in a preceding support race, Q1 got underway with both the soft and the medium tyres seen on track, although all the drivers finished the first session on the softest compound.

The biggest surprise was the elimination of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in Q1, while Haas driver Oliver Bearman impressed by topping the time sheets for the majority of Q1 and Q2.

In the crucial Q3 session Piastri was fastest after the first runs, while Norris overcame a lock-up in his first run that put him last to then set his personal best time of the weekend when it counted most.

Mercedes driver George Russell adopted a different tactic by choosing the medium tyre for his final Q3 run – the only driver to do so – using it to good effect to qualify sixth.

The Pirelli Pole Position Award was given to Lando Norris by André Lamoglia. The Brazilian actor from Rio de Janeiro played a student in the highly successful Netflix series ‘Élite’. Lamoglia also takes the lead role in ‘Rulers of Fortune’, which has just come out on Netflix. In this latest series, set in his home city of Rio, Lamoglia plays an unscrupulous criminal in the high stakes world of gambling.

THE DAY ON TRACK 

Norris converted pole to the win in a complex sprint race that was interrupted by a lengthy red flag period after only six laps. Overnight rain had left damp patches on the track, especially in the first corner, but all the drivers selected either the medium or soft slick for the 24-lap sprint race that got underway at 11:00 local time in track temperatures of just 25 degrees.

Interestingly, out of the top eight, those on the right-hand side of the grid (including the polesitter) chose the medium tyre whereas those on the left-hand side selected the soft. In total, 14 drivers started on medium and six started on soft.

The turning point of the race was when Piastri went off at Turn 2 after touching the kerb, followed by Alpine’s Franco Colapinto and Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg, causing the red flag period for barrier repairs.

Norris, in the lead, chose to switch to the soft tyres at the restart, whereas the two Mercedes chasing him did the opposite and switched from soft to medium.

Over the remaining laps Norris had to manage this compound to fend off his pursuers, with the task made more difficult by the cool conditions, increasingly gusting winds, and damp patches: all of which can decrease grip levels and cause cars to slide more.

The race ended under yellow flags following a big crash for Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto, with Norris’s second sprint win (after Miami) stretching his championship lead over Piastri to nine points.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT

“The best track conditions that we saw at the end of yesterday were completely reset by the rain that fell overnight and this morning. So compared to yesterday, track evolution wasn’t progressive.

As a result, lap times today were slower not only than yesterday but also than the equivalent sessions last year. A contributory factor today was also the gusting wind, which was a real challenge in terms of car balance.

In qualifying though, we finally got to see the performance gap between medium and soft, which was estimated at around two to three tenths of a second, in line with our simulations. That gap wasn’t clear yesterday, also because of the reduced number of laps run on the softest tyre.

Once more we head into a weekend where there’s not going to be a lot of time difference between a one-stop and a two-stop strategy. If going for a one-stopper, the best choice would seem to be soft and medium: even though the difference is quite marginal due to the wear rates. The low track temperatures make it trickier to bring the hard tyre into the correct temperature window, and this compound is also more affected by a lack of grip from the surface here.

Starting on the soft tyre, a reasonably early pit stop for the medium: roughly between laps 24 and 30. The rear wear rate seen on the C4 today is enough to have an impact on traction, so this requires careful management. It wouldn’t have been a surprise to see drivers struggle with this in the sprint race this morning, had it not been for the red flag stoppage that allowed a switch to the medium.

The two-stopper options tomorrow also include the softest compounds, starting with the C4 to gain an initial advantage, before moving to the C3 for the middle stint, and then leaving the choice between soft and medium open for the run to the flag.”

Charles Leclerc took his Ferrari from second on the grid to second at the chequered flag, crossing the line 30.324 seconds behind the winner, until the final laps when he had to fend off a charging Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing), the Dutchman keeping his championship hopes alive, fighting hard to make it to the last step of the podium in third place. In fact, with two laps remaining Verstappen was right on Leclerc’s gearbox and looked set to pass the Ferrari, but a Virtual Safety Car was called, the race only going “live” again with half a lap remaining, Leclerc just hanging on to the runner-up slot.

The biggest surprise came from Oliver Bearman in his first full F1 season, who brought his Haas home in fourth place from ninth on the grid having run as high as third for much of the race, his best ever F1 result. The excitement mounts in the Drivers’ Championship with four races remaining, as Norris moves into the lead, one point ahead of team-mate Piastri, while Verstappen is now 36 points behind the leader with four Grands Prix and two Sprint Races remaining this year.

THE DAY ON TRACK   

The majority of the drivers (12) lined up on the Soft compound tyre for the start, while six (Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing, Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls, Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull Racing, Carlos Sainz Williams, Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber and Pierre Gasly Alpine) went with the Medium, while Alex Albon, Williams and Franco Colapinto Alpine opted for the Hard.

As is often the case here with the very long run down to the first corner, the opening lap was chaotic, with the leaders four abreast into the corner. The Stewards had to get involved to work out who had gained an advantage, Lewis Hamilton coming off worst, taking a 10 second penalty at his pit stop.

Championship leader Oscar Piastri in the McLaren had a poor start, but eventually fought his way back up to fifth. Sainz was the first to make a planned pit stop switching from Medium to Soft, with the Soft-to-Medium stops beginning on lap 22 with Antonelli. A second run of stops began on lap 47, with Piastri, Antonelli and Hamilton.

The longest stint of the race came courtesy of Colapinto who completed 48 laps on the C2, while Ocon did 44 laps with the C4 compound and Gasly managed 37 laps on the softest compound.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

“We were treated to an interesting race here in Mexico City, not just in terms of the on-track action but also because we saw the field split between those on a one-stop and others on a two-stop. Congratulations to Lando Norris, who was impeccable all weekend, right from the opening day and who is now back in the lead of the championship. Well done also to Ollie Bearman who brought home a valuable fourth place for the Haas team.

“The Medium and Soft compounds both played their part but, if one were to pick a star of the day, it was without a doubt the red banded compound. Most of the drivers chose the softest tyre for the start and for the final stint in the case of those who opted for a two-stop strategy.

“Thanks to very little wear and no graining, the drivers were able to extend their C5 stint, effectively managing thermal degradation on the rears. The pit stop windows were in line with our expectations and I believe the variety of strategies also owed something to the decision to introduce a gap in the compounds selected. The Hard saw very little use, because it was at a disadvantage on this track that offered little grip all weekend.

“Part of the Pirelli crew here in Mexico City this week, will be back at the circuit on Tuesday and Wednesday for development testing of the softer compounds in the 2026 range of tyres. A mule car will be provided by Sauber on the first day and Mercedes on the second. We thank both of them for their support.”

He came under pressure from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who was quickest after the first Q3 run, but will start alongside the Englishman on the front row with a time of 1’15”848. The second row of the grid tomorrow will see Lewis Hamilton in the second Ferrari start third thanks to a lap in 1’15”938, with George Russell next to him in fourth for Mercedes.  

The third row sees championship contender Max Verstappen (Red Bull) fifth and the second Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli in sixth. Last year’s winner in Mexico City, Carlos Sainz, qualified seventh, one place ahead of championship leader Oscar Piastri, but the Spaniard takes a five place grid penalty tomorrow. 

The Pirelli Pole Position Award was presented to Norris by Rome Flynn. The American actor first made his name as a student of the attorney played by Viola Davis in the series, “How To Get Away With Murder.” His performance in the popular soap opera “The Bold and the Beautiful” earned him an Emmy Award as Best Young Actor in a drama series. 

THE DAY ON TRACK 

In FP3, the focus was firmly on qualifying, not surprising as no driver has won this race from lower than P3 on the grid since it returned to the calendar in 2015. Norris was quickest in 1’16”633, putting together the perfect lap, fastest in all three sectors. That time is around 1.5 tenths slower than the best time in the corresponding session last year, most likely down to the higher track temperatures today.  

Hamilton was second fastest for Ferrari, followed by Russell in the Mercedes, who unlike the two ahead of him, set his best time on used Softs. All drivers completed runs on the C5 apart from Fernando Alonso, who despite running six sets of tyres in the session, as part of Aston Martin’s usual scrubbing-in process, had to sit out most of the hour with a technical issue.  

The C5 was the only tyre used throughout qualifying. On what is the third shortest track on the calendar, traffic is always an issue, leading to the usual anxiety about getting out on track to complete a final lap, while leaving gaps to the cars in front. Isack Hadjar was quickest for Racing Bulls in Q1, with Norris stamping his authority on Q2 before putting together another perfect lap to clinch pole in the top-ten shoot-out. 

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT

 “Track conditions and tyre degradation in FP3 when race simulation was relevant were very similar to yesterday. However, in qualifying track evolution meant that times matched those from our simulations. 

“In this session the C5’s performance was seen over a single lap. Those drivers who got to the first corner after the long run of over one kilometre, with the tyres at the right temperature across the front axle definitely benefited from a well balanced car and therefore had a competitive advantage. Managing rear tyre temperature in the final sector was the key to gaining a few precious hundredths.  

“The few drivers who managed to set their best time on a second lap probably owe it exclusively to the improvement from track evolution. Track temperature which could reach 50°C tomorrow, will therefore be a key factor when it comes to strategy choices with the aim of managing thermal degradation.  

“With no drivers having saved two sets of Mediums, its effectively clear that a one-stop strategy will be the most popular choice for the race. The Medium has proved to be the most versatile compound this weekend and starting on it opens up a couple of options at least.  

“If drivers can extend their first stint to a window between laps 42 and 48, they could fit Softs to go to the flag. On the other hand, if the C4 performance drop is too high, a switch to the Hard compound between laps 26 and 32 is possible.  

“Starting on the Soft could give an initial advantage in terms of grip, but the heavy fuel load would require the driver to manage their race pace. In this situation, a shift to the C4 would come between laps 23 and 29, or if the C2 is preferred, between laps 20 and 26. 

“Finally, in theory, one can also look at a two-stop strategy, running Soft-Medium-Soft, which produces a similar overall race time to the one-stop. However, the disadvantage of losing places after the pit stops, and the difficulty in overtaking at this track, means this is really only viable on paper.” 

Like most drivers, Verstappen adopted a medium-soft tyre strategy, which required optimal management on the bumpy asphalt that peaked at 47 degrees centigrade, with gusting winds complicating the task further. Easing the demand on the tyres slightly was an early Virtual Safety Car, which slowed the pace at a critical point with the cars full of fuel.

The key outlier in terms of strategy was Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc: the only driver in the top 15 to start on the soft tyre. He used the extra grip to brilliant effect, challenging for the lead from  third on the grid – with the soft tyres estimated to gain nearly an extra two metres in the sprint from 0-150kph at the start. To put that in context, there are four metres between each grid slot: so Leclerc’s choice of starting tyre gained him the equivalent of nearly half a grid position.

Leclerc was consequently the first of the frontrunners to pit, going from soft to medium on lap 23. He made good use of the yellow tyre to hold second place, before being passed in the closing stages for the runner-up spot after a race-long battle with McLaren’s Lando Norris (who was on the faster soft for his second stint).

Verstappen’s advantage was such that he was able to make his single stop from medium to soft tyres on lap 33, slightly later than his other rivals, without losing the lead.

All three compounds were seen on the starting grid, with three drivers at the back of the grid selecting the hard tyre. Only two drivers stopped twice: Williams driver Alex Albon and Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto, with everyone else stopping only once.

In a momentous week for American motorsport, it was announced before the start of the race that COTA would remain on the calendar until at least 2034.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

“Today the teams decided to keep their options open at the start, using mainly the medium tyre on the grid, which is the most flexible starting point for a number of different strategies. Leclerc stood out among the top 10, being the only driver to opt for the soft, which gave him an initial grip advantage that paid off.

The early VSC period allowed a few extra laps on both the soft and the medium, with the medium compound in particular showing consistency that was perhaps greater than anticipated. A positive influence on that was the asphalt temperature, which was lower than yesterday, and track evolution. These combined factors allowed the first stint to be stretched for as long as possible.

As a result, the medium-hard strategies that were initially envisaged inevitably turned into a theoretically more audacious strategy once the halfway point of the race had been reached. A succession of pit stops round about lap 30 saw the red tyre used for the final stint on nearly all the cars.

With the rear tyres not reaching maximum wear, the drivers were able to maintain a competitive pace without having to manage them, also thanks to the setups selected by the teams. Congratulations to Max Verstappen, who continues to fight for the title, and to Charles Leclerc for choosing a different strategy to get onto the podium."

Qualifying got underway at 16:00 local time in track temperatures that reached 48 degrees centigrade, with gusting winds making the task of controlling the cars through COTA’s high-speed direction changes even harder.

Verstappen was fastest in all three sessions, on each occasion using the soft compound. However, he only needed one run in Q3 to claim pole in a time of 1m32.510s, as he missed the cut-off to start his second flying lap at the end of the session. McLaren’s Lando Norris by contrast improved during his second run to line up in P2, while Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc will start third.

Qualifying was interrupted by a red flag right at the beginning of Q1, following an off for Racing Bulls driver Isack Hadjar, before any drivers had the chance to put down a time. The biggest challenge however was the very high track temperatures, with tomorrow’s race – which gets underway at 14:00 local time – expected to be slightly cooler. Track limits were another factor, with a number of laps deleted, while many drivers waited to start their quick laps for as long as possible to take advantage of an evolving track.

Interestingly, the polesitter hasn’t won at COTA since 2021 – but on that occasion it was Verstappen, who today claims his seventh pole of the 2025 season.

The Pirelli Pole Position Award was given to Verstappen by Zachary Levi. The American actor plays superhero Shazam in the two films of the same name inspired by the legendary cartoons from DC Comics. Levi also starred in the two blockbusters of the Thor saga, as well as the hit TV series ‘Less than Perfect’ and ‘Chuck’.

THE DAY ON TRACK 

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen underlined his mastery of the sprint race format by claiming his 13^th win since the concept was introduced in 2021: more than half the total of sprints ever held. The result closed him to within 55 points of the championship lead.

All the drivers selected Pirelli’s medium compound for the 19-lap race, which was characterised by two safety car periods. With drivers pushing flat-out when it was clear to race, the challenge for the tyres was increased by the track temperature and plenty of debris on the surface caused by a first-lap collision that eliminated both McLarens.

A second safety car with three laps to go lasted until the end of the race, with the Mercedes of George Russell – the only driver in the top three to start on a used set of tyres – finishing runner-up, ahead of the Williams of Carlos Sainz. This was the second podium of the year for the Spaniard, with the top three echoing that of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. 

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT

“As expected everyone opted for the mediums to start the sprint race, with the only variable being whether they were new or used. Degradation was high but predictable, especially following the neutralisation, which then allowed the drivers to push hard without worrying about tyre management.

When it came to qualifying, the times were set using new soft tyres. The high track temperatures made it harder for the tyres to recover their performance after the first flying lap. As a result, the drivers really only had one chance to beat their rivals, with lap times that were a bit slower than expected precisely because of the high track temperatures.

The hard tyre now becomes a valid strategic option for tomorrow’s race, given that the performance gap to the medium is less than expected. Looking at all the available compounds, a number of different strategies are possible with no significant disadvantages: all of which are close in terms of overall race time.

Stretching the first medium stint to a pit stop window between laps 20 and 26 allows a one-stopper, if you then go onto the C1. But a two-stopper is equally effective using soft and medium: starting on the soft and then swapping to the C3 on between laps 12 and 18. The teams can then decide whether or not to run the medium again for the final stint, or stretch the middle stint and use the extra speed of the soft in the final laps.

A one-stopper using just medium and soft would require extremely accurate tyre management and might risk compromising performance, to the extent that we don’t believe it would be a realistic option.

As we saw clearly today, the drivers will have to pay close attention to two external factors that made driving conditions tricky: gusting winds and irregular asphalt. The first issue adds to the risk of locking up under braking and so can potentially reduce the operating window of the tyres. The uneven asphalt can instead cause micro-slides, which raises tyre temperature and so adds to the challenge of thermal management.”

McLaren picked up 17 points today, courtesy of a third place for Lando Norris and a fourth for Oscar Piastri, thus retaining the Constructors’ title for a second year, its tenth championship win. Not since the four years from 1988 to 1991 has the Woking team managed to win two consecutive Constructors’ titles. McLaren is now on its own in second place in this particular list, behind Ferrari on 16.

Max Verstappen has yet to break his duck at the Singapore Grand Prix, this being the third time he has finished second, and his fourth time on the podium.

THE DAY ON TRACK   

Medium and Soft were the compounds chosen for the start of the race. As predicted, most of the drivers (14) opted for the C4, while six (Verstappen, Tsunoda, Stroll, Alonso, Colapinto and Hadjar) preferred the C5. Use of the Hard for the first stint was ruled out as the track was still a bit damp after rain fell in the late afternoon.

The Hard was the most popular choice for the second stint, but the Soft was still in use, as three drivers, Lawson, Albon and Sainz, drove their second stint on the C5. Three drivers, Hamilton, Gasly and Hulkenberg, pitted twice.

Overall, the C3 and C4 did a similar amount of work, the Medium completing 508 laps, the Hard doing four less. Compared to last year, the Soft did more than twice as many laps today, going from 8.67% of the total laps completed in 2024 to 17.66% this year.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

“First of all, congratulations to George Russell for the win and to McLaren for the Constructors’ title!

“As for the race, we had yet further confirmation that the current generation of cars has reached such a sophisticated level of development that overtaking is really complicated, especially on a track like Singapore, which by its very nature does not make this an easy task. On top of that, the teams and drivers have become ever more adept at tyre management, to the extent that we saw stints of 50 laps on the Medium and 38 on the Soft. To be honest, even if we had brought a theoretical C8 compound here it wouldn’t have made much difference to how the race unfolded!

“This evening, as we had expected, all three compounds were competitive. At the start, the Soft became an interesting choice, partly because of the rain that fell shortly before the cars went out onto the grid, after which it proved to be very quick, as demonstrated by Hamilton and Sainz as they fought their way back. All in all, the Medium offered the best balance between consistency and performance, but the Hard also delivered good performance.”

The Feature Race was very exciting with rain putting in an appearance in the closing stages. Following a Safety Car, some drivers chose to pit for rain tyres while the leaders opted to stay out on slicks. That led to a very exciting final lap, featuring a duel between the two Drivers’ title contenders, Doriane Pin and Maya Weug. The Scuderia Ferrari driver came out on top, with a great overtaking move right at the very end to lead home her Mercedes-Prema opponent by less than half a second. Making it to the third step of the podium was Ella Lloyd (McLaren-Rodin).

With just one round remaining, only nine points separate Pin (151 points) from Weug (142) and Lloyd (101) now up to third, having moved ahead of Chloe Chambers (99).

Starting alongside him on the front row will be Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen (1’29 “340) who yet again just missed out on the number one slot that still eludes him at this track. The second row sees Oscar Piastri third for McLaren in 1’29”524 and Andrea Kimi Antonelli (1’29”537) fourth in the other Mercedes. The Pirelli Pole Position Awards was presented to Russell by Alan Walker. The Norwegian DJ and producer achieved worldwide success in 2015 with his track “Faded.” His electronic music tracks have been streamed over a hundred billion times with nearly 36 billion views on YouTube. After the Walkerworld tour in Europe and North America, the artist performed today in Singapore just before the Grand Prix qualifying session.

THE DAY ON TRACK 

In the third free practice session the teams worked mainly on preparing for qualifying, even if some drivers also did several longer runs to get some feedback on tyre behaviour in a race situation. Seven teams used one set of Medium and one of Soft with both drivers. That included Aston Martin who also did their usual scrubbing-in lap on a set of Hards. Mercedes and Williams only ran the Soft compound. In qualifying red was the only colour seen on track, with the C5 doing all the work.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT

“A very closely contested qualifying session, with Mercedes particularly brilliant taking a possibly surprising but absolutely well-deserved pole with Russell. It was interesting to see a remarkable balance across all three segments of qualifying: 15 drivers within eight-tenths in Q1, ten within less than half a second in Q2, and the top ten all in under 1’30” in Q3. Russell’s pole was a record, 367 thousandths quicker than last year although in line with our pre-event simulations. Today the track improved significantly during FP3 and at the start of qualifying, then stabilised in the final stages. The C5 offered a good level of performance even on the second or third timed lap, and even more so on an actual second attempt.

“We know how crucial qualifying is on this circuit, as seen from the fact that in the fifteen races held here so far, the winner has started from the front row on all but three occasions. Tomorrow we will most likely see a one-stop race, although the increase in pit-lane speed, from 60 to 80 km/h, makes a two-stop slightly more appealing, especially if there was to be a safety car or the opening of a clean-air window during the race.

“I believe all three compounds could be used tomorrow evening. Everyone has one set of Mediums and one of Hards, but the Soft could also play a role, either at the start or at the end of the race. The greater grip offered by the C5 could be exploited at the start to gain vital positions on a track where overtaking is always difficult, although now less so than in the past.”

Lia Block won the Singapore F1 Academy Sprint Race. The Williams-ART Grand Prix driver started from pole position and led all the way to the chequered flag, fending off a very feisty Maya Weug (Scuderia Ferrari-MP Motorsport) who had started from eighth place, having secured pole position yesterday. She crossed the line just 649 thousandths behind the winner. Chloe Chambers (Red Bull Ford-Campos Racing) was third.

In the Drivers’ championship, Doriane Pin still leads on 132 points, with Maya Weug second, having closed the gap to 17 points and Chloe Chambers is third on 99.

George Russell (Mercedes) finished second, to record the 22^nd podium finish of his career, his sixth this season. Carlos Sainz was third, the Spaniard’s first top-three result with Williams. The English team has not had a podium finish since the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix. It had previously finished third in Baku in 2017 courtesy of Lance Stroll.

THE DAY ON TRACK   

For the start, the field was fairly evenly split between those opting for the Medium (11 drivers) and the Hard (9). The longest stint was down to Esteban Ocon (Haas) who drive 49 laps on the Hard. He had to stop on lap 1 to change a broken front wing, taking on Mediums, before pitting almost immediately again for another set of Hards, with the aim of going all the way to the flag with no more stops, which he did.

Lando Norris (McLaren) and Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) both drove the longest stints on the Medium, completing 37 laps.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

“On this track, a one-stop has always been an almost mandatory strategy and today was no exception, even though we brought a softer range of compounds than last year. Additionally, the fact it was cooler than usual helped the teams and drivers manage thermal degradation, particularly on the rear axle.

“As a result, it was a very straightforward race in terms of tyre behaviour. The Medium and Hard were very close in terms of performance and also in terms of degradation which was practically non-existent on both compounds. The C4 saw the most use (598 laps, 61.84%) and the Soft never put in an appearance. After last night’s rain, the track surface reset itself a bit and therefore actually evolved significantly over the course of the race. Ahead of us we now have another 2026 tyre development test session. On Thursday 25^th and Friday 26^th September, Ferrari and Haas will support us for one day each at the Mugello circuit, working on a programme focussed on defining the hardest compounds in the range.”

Jak Crawford (DAMS Lucas Oil) took an important win, in the closing stages having to fend off the attentions of Joshua Duerksen (AIX Racing). Starting from pole, the American lost the lead at the start, but at the restart following a Safety Car period he retook the lead to go on and win. Leonardo Fornaroli (Invicta Racing) finished third but a ten second penalty dropped him to fifth, promoting Dino Beganovic (Hitech TGR) to the podium in third place. In the Drivers’ standings, Fornaroli still leads on 189 points, followed by Crawford (169) and Luke Browning (Hitech TGR) on 161.

Tomorrow, Carlos Sainz will line up on the front row of the grid for the 15^th time in his career, six of those being pole positions. Liam Lawson was third for Racing Bulls, his best ever qualifying, in a time of 1’41”707. Alongside him will be Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) just one hundredth slower than the New Zealander. The Pirelli Pole Position Award was presented to Verstappen by Janelle Zharmenova. The content creator from Kazakhstan has over two and a half million followers on TikTok and 600 thousand on Instagram, where she shares her tips on fashion and beauty.

THE DAY ON TRACK 

For the third free practice session, the track was definitely in worse condition than on Friday, because of overnight rain and, above all, because of the wind blowing a lot of dirt onto the track surface. Grip level then improved considerably over the course of the sixty minutes.

As was the case yesterday, the teams tried to save the three available sets of Medium as much as possible. In fact, Stroll was the only driver to use the C5. Six drivers – the Alpine, Haas and Racing Bulls pairs – also used the Hard along with the Soft, with the C6 being the only compound used by the remaining 13 drivers.

Temperatures were much lower in qualifying than in FP3, the track dropping by around 10 °C from 35 to 24 °C. On top of that, there was some occasional drizzle and gusts of wind which further slowed performance, to the extent that the pole time is only slightly quicker than the best time from yesterday’s FP2. Very unusually, the compound use was very evenly split between Soft and Medium in qualifying: 166 laps on the C6, 162 with the C5.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT

 “A very unusual qualifying session, because of how long it lasted and in terms of tyre usage. We knew that when it came to overall performance, the difference between the C5 and C6 compounds would be very small and would vary from car to car and even from one driver to another. The drop in temperature the drivers had to contend with in qualifying, exacerbated by how long it went on for, meant the performance gap came down even further. Therefore, the choice between the two compounds was subjective. In fact, at first glance it would seem that the Soft compound was the most effective, contrary to what had appeared to be the case after yesterday.

 “In terms of strategy tomorrow, the clearly fastest route is a one-stop with Medium and Hard playing the leading roles, unless of course there are any neutralisations. As for the Soft, it is unlikely to be used in the race, but it cannot be ruled out entirely, for example in the case of someone looking to do a short first stint, before running in clear air and going all the way to the chequered flag. Obviously a first stint on Medium or Hard allows for greater flexibility, since it’s not out of the question that the race could be neutralised, as we saw in qualifying and in today’s Formula 2 race. The one certainty is that it will be a very unpredictable race, especially because of a grid order like nothing we have seen so far this season.”

Dino Beganovic was unstoppable in today’s Sprint, taking his maiden FIA Formula 2 win, having started from second on the grid. His team-mate Luke Browning made it a one-two for the Hitech TGR team in Baku, while Alexander Dunne finished third for Rodin Motorsport, having started seventh.

As for how the tyres performed, it was hard to tell given the many neutralisations, with degradation making itself felt, particularly across the rear axle, at first because of overheating and then towards the end, through wear, with wind making it difficult for the drivers to keep their cars in a stable condition.

This was the four times world champion’s third win of the season, following on from those in Suzuka and Imola, as well as his third in this race, to add to those in 2022 and 2023, all with Red Bull Racing. It’s the Dutchman’s 66^th career win while the Anglo-Austrian team is now on 125 wins, five of them here in Monza.

This race goes into the record books as the fastest ever Formula 1 Grand Prix. Verstappen’s average speed was 250.706 km/h, beating the previous record set in Monza by Michael Schumacher in 2003 with an average speed of 247.586 km/h. In fact, the drivers who finished second to seventh today also got under the Ferrari driver’s winning time.

Just as they did a year ago, the two McLaren drivers were on the podium, with Lando Norris second and Oscar Piastri third. The Englishman also set a new outright average speed record when he set the race fastest lap on lap 53 in 1’20”901, at a speed of 257.781 km/h.

THE DAY ON TRACK   

As expected, the majority of drivers had opted to start the first stint on Medium tyres, while five, Stroll, Gasly, Ocon, Hadjar e Albon went with the Hard. Lawson was the only driver to start on Softs. The C5 made a further appearance in the closing stages when five drivers - Norris, Piastri, Stroll, Gasly and Ocon – fitted it for the final few laps, having extended the opening stint much further than expected. The longest stint of all came courtesy of Ocon who did 51 laps on the Hard, while Norris went furthest on the Medium completing 46 laps. Lawson did the most laps on the Soft (9).

MARCO TRONCHETTI PROVERA – PIRELLI EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT    

“It’s great to be here in Monza for the Italian Grand Prix, a special event not only for Pirelli but also for Formula 1. A week ago in the Netherlands we reached the milestone of 500 Grands Prix in motor racing’s blue riband category, the only tyre manufacturer to do so. Here in Monza, we wanted to celebrate the landmark with our partners in this amazing adventure: Formula 1 President and CEO Stefano Domenicali, FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem, along with all the drivers and team bosses. Pirelli was on track at Silverstone with its Stella Bianca tyre on 13 May 1950 when Nino Farina won the first World Championship Grand Prix and today it is the sport’s sole supplier. Formula 1 is an amazing open-air laboratory for experimenting with and testing new technical solutions, as well as for improving research and development and manufacturing processes for our tyres.

“On this day of celebration, above all I want to thank everyone at Pirelli for their passionate commitment and the quality of their work over the years, as well as for everything they will do in the future, as we continue pushing forward with this partnership.”

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

“In this Grand Prix, all the excitement was condensed into the opening laps, with drivers overtaking and repassing each other with some thrilling moves. Then, once the situation stabilised, the race became very linear with all drivers trying to extend their first stints as much as possible, depending on which compounds they had chosen for the start. Unlike last year, there was practically no graining today and on this very smooth track surface, performance degradation was pretty much zero. This meant that all the drivers could more or less chose the moment to pit based on their track position, while others gambled going much longer than the window predicted based on how free practice had gone, in the hope of a possible Safety Car, having nothing left to lose.

“We saw some cases of blistering across the front axle, but not enough to have a significant impact on car performance. In terms of wear, it’s clear that those drivers who went beyond the 40 lap mark on their first stint, came very close to or in some cases, even exceeded the wear limit, but without losing performance.

“All in all, evaluating tyre performance in this Grand Prix, I would say they were too good. It will be important for us to analyse the data very well to understand how to proceed with the development of compounds for next year. On this topic, it’s worth noting that in less than 48 hours, we will be back on track in Monza for two days of testing of 2026 tyres, working with Red Bull Racing (Verstappen/Tsunoda and Aston Martin (Drugovich) on Tuesday and with Williams (Albon/Sainz) and Racing Bulls (Lawson/Hadjar) the following day.”

 FORMULA 2 

Luke Browning (Hitech TGR) claimed his maiden Formula 2 victory in the Monza Feature Race. The Englishman won a race that featured several appearances from the Safety Car. He took the chequered flag ahead of the Paraguayan Joshua Durksen (AIX Racing) and Spain’s Josep Maria Martì (Campos Racing). Browning thus moves up to second in the Drivers’ standings, 21 points down on Italy’s Leonardo Fornaroli, (174 points), who won the Sprint yesterday and finished fifth today. Third is the Dutchman Richard Verschoor (MP Motorsport) on 144.

FORMULA 3 

The last race of the season had to be neutralised several times and was won by Thailand’s Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak who took the chequered flag ahead of his Campos Racing team-mate, the Bulgarian Nikola Tsolov. Thanks to this one-two finish, the Spanish team has clinched the Teams title, beating Italy’s Trident team by 11 points, (314 to 303.) However, the runners-up can take consolation from the fact their driver Rafael Camara, fifth today is the Drivers’ champion. Prema Racing’s Mexican driver Noel Leon was on the third step of the podium.
 

The Pirelli Pole Position Award was presented to the four time world champion by the Italian artist Nico Vascellari, who created the trophy known as “Chimera” which will be presented to the drivers on the podium on Sunday. Vascellari’s work can be seen in important private collections and museums including MAXXI in Rome, the Bolzano Museum and the Museo del ‘900 in Milan.

This is Max’s 45^th pole, the second at Monza, following on from 2021. His time today of 1’18”792 is not only a record for this track, but is also the highest average speed (264.423 km/h) ever recorded in qualifying in the history of Formula 1, thus ensuring that Monza lives up to its nickname of the Temple of Speed.

Alongside Verstappen tomorrow will be Lando Norris in the McLaren (1’18”869), a time which also beat the existing lap record set in 2020 by Lewis Hamilton in 1’18”887. On the second row in third spot is championship leader Oscar Piastri (McLaren) with a time of 1’18”982 and in fourth place, last year’s Monza winner, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc (1’19”007).

THE DAY ON TRACK 

In the third free practice session, a further seven drivers - Piastri, Norris, Tsunoda, Stroll, Alonso, Colapinto and Gasly – did at least one proper run on a set of Hards, while Hadjar and the two Aston Martin drivers scrubbed in a set of the C3. This means Max Verstappen is the only driver to have saved both his sets of the hardest compound for tomorrow’s race. In contrast, Hadjar has saved two sets of new Mediums, while the Mercedes duo of Kimi Antonelli and George Russell have two, even if they used a set in the first part of Q1, the only drivers to have used anything other than Softs in this session.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT

“Once again a very closely contested qualifying, with all 20 drivers lapping within just over eight tenths of a second in Q1, while the top ten in Q2 were separated by less than three tenths. The final runs in Q3 were thrilling, ending with yet another demonstration of Max Verstappen’s amazing talent. His pole is also significant, as the lap is the fastest ever recorded in Formula 1.

In qualifying, we saw that the Soft was clearly the fastest compound. Those like the Mercedes duo who ran the Medium were also competitive, indeed Russell was quickest in Q1 on the C4, but that was more down to him feeling more comfortable with a tyre that, while offering less performance, gave the driver more confidence. The C5 is a very quick compound but it is not easy to find its peak performance, as was proved by the fact it could produce excellent times even after one or two cool-down laps, or on a second run. This means that once it stabilised, the Soft might give the driver more confidence to push.

“In terms of strategy, from the three hours of free practice it’s clear to see that this will be a race with only one pit stop. Medium and Hard should be the compounds doing most of the work, offering the best compromise between performance and durability and, between the two there’s not much difference in terms of degradation. Having said that, the Soft could find itself with an important role, especially for drivers able to lengthen the opening stint at least to lap 32, or on the other hand, if there’s a neutralisation towards the end of the race.”

 FORMULA 2 

Leonardo Fornaroli extended his lead in the championship with his fourth win of the season. The Invicta Racing driver started from third, rapidly moving into the lead after which he managed the race, fending off the attentions of second placed Arvid Lindblad. AIX Racing’s Joshua Durksen took the flag in fourth place but was promoted to third on the podium after Dino Beganovic was given a five second penalty for an infringement during the Virtual Safety Car.

FORMULA 3 

It looked like Tim Tramnitz (MP Motorsport) had taken a well deserved win in the final Sprint Race of the season, but he was later given a 10 second penalty which dropped the German outside the points. The win therefore went to Poland’s Roman Bilinski (Rodin Motorsport), who crossed the finish line just 353 thousandths of a second ahead of the Norwegian Martinius Stenshorne (Hitech TGR) and 659 thousandths in front of Dutchman Laurens van Hoepen (ART Grand Prix), who were thus classified second and third. 
 

Max Verstappen made it to the podium in second place, the first time the Red Bull driver has finished in the top three since the Canadian Grand Prix. This was his fifth podium from five races at Zandvoort, with three wins and two second places. In third spot, Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) secured his maiden podium, making him the youngest French driver and fifth youngest overall, to finish in the top three, at the age of 20 years, 11 months and three days. It was the Italian team’s first trip to the podium since the 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, which was also down to a French driver, when Pierre Gasly finished third.

THE DAY ON TRACK   

All three slick compounds came into play right from the choices made on the starting grid. For the opening stint, 14 drivers chose the Medium, four went with the Soft and two opted for the Hard.

The C2 compound saw the most use, covering almost 50% of all laps completed (658 laps, 48.28%) followed by the Medium (399, 29.27%) and the Soft (306, 22,45%). The longest stint overall was completed by Bearman in the Haas who did 53 laps on the Hard, while Verstappen went furthest on the Medium (30) with Lawson heading the list on Softs with 25.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

“Despite earlier predictions to the contrary, this Grand Prix was unpredictable right to the end, especially because of the many neutralisations following crashes and retirements. Piastri won not just because he had a very good car, but also because he perfectly managed all the crucial moments, especially the three restarts after the Safety Car periods.

“As for the tyres, the most positive aspect to emerge from this weekend is that, even though we brought a softer trio of dry weather compounds here than last year, all three of them proved to be competitive in the race, as can be seen from the way the mileage was divided between them (as mentioned above). The Hard did the bulk of the work, delivering a good level of performance over very long stints, for example from the two Haas drivers who covered over two thirds of the race on one set of C2s. This compound actually behaved better than it had done in the three free practice sessions, so that the drivers were able to push hard immediately after the restarts. Those like the McLaren and Aston Martin drivers who had been able to save both sets for the race were thus able to benefit from this. As for the Medium and Soft, their performance was pretty similar, which is important, especially in the case of the softer of the two.

“Now we move on to Pirelli’s home Grand Prix where we will celebrate with all the fans the milestone we reached today, namely 500 Formula 1 Grand Prix participations, making us the tyre supplier with the most appearances in motor racing’s blue riband category. It is a source of pride and the result of the passion, expertise and commitment demonstrated by so many men and women working at Pirelli since the 1950s. We will start counting again from Monza!"

Maya Weug made a clean sweep of the points on offer in the second race at Zandvoort. The Dutch Scuderia Ferrari-MP driver made the most of the pole position she secured yesterday morning to lead the race from start to finish, also taking the additional point for setting the fastest race lap. The weekend thus saw the Dutch dominate as Nina Gademan won yesterday’s race. Joining Weug on the podium were second placed Alicia Palmowski (Red Bull Racing-Campos) championship leader Doriane Pin (Mercedes-Prema), who now has 127 points. But Weug has closed significantly on the Frenchwoman, as she is just 20 points behind in second place. With two rounds remaining in Singapore and Las Vegas, Chloe Chambers (Red Bull Ford-Campos is third on 93 points having failed to score this weekend.

The second row of the grid features two Honda-powered cars, with the Red Bull of Max Verstappen third in 1’08”925 ahead of Isack Hadjar in the Racing Bulls with a 1’09”208, the Frenchman’s best ever qualifying performance.

The Pirelli Pole Position Award was presented to Piastri by Julio Cruz. The retired Argentinian footballer won four championships, three Italian Supercoppe and two Coppe Italia in 2003 and 2009 with Inter Milan. He bid farewell to the game a year later when he was playing for Lazio. During the presentation, “El Jardinero” as he is known, wore the special Inter Milan edition of the Pirelli Cap, celebrating 30 years of a partnership between the Italian side and Pirelli, one of the longest and most important collaborations in the world of football. Only 1995 of the caps were produced, recognising the year in which the partnership began. 

THE DAY ON TRACK 

In the third free practice session, a further six drivers used a set of Hards, producing competitive runs: Colapinto and Gasly for Alpine, Ocon and Bearman for Haas and Hulkenberg and Bortoleto for Sauber. The McLaren and Ferrari drivers scrubbed-in a set of C2 over one lap. Soft was the only compound used in qualifyinig. The C4 proved it could deliver maximum potential on its first flying lap. Those who equalled their first time on a second run managed it thanks to track evolution, which was even significant within individual segments of the decisive session.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT

“On a track where overtaking is definitely difficult, qualifying takes on even more importance than usual in deciding the race result. While the McLarens seem to have the edge over the rest of the field, their two drivers are separated by almost nothing, just 12 thousandths of a second in fact. It’s very close behind this pair, with the remaining 18 drivers all within the same second. Therefore, all the ingredients are in place to produce a closely contested, unpredictable race, with the changeable weather adding another unknown factor to the mix, as well as the possibility of Safety Cars always present on a track where mistakes are always punished.

“Although simulation shows that the two-stop strategy has a slight advantage in terms of overall time, we are well aware that the teams will try and make only a single pit stop, because track position established on the opening lap is all important. Therefore we believe that a strategy based on a first stint on the Medium and a second with the Hard is the most likely, as it allows teams to cover for the possibility of rain or a Safety Car. For those opting for a two-stop the most likely choice is to use all three compounds, also because only McLaren and Aston Martin have two sets of Hards available.

“The increase in the pit lane speed limit from 60 to 80 km/h will have a significant impact on the time lost during a pit stop, dropping from around 22 seconds to 19 or 20. But that’s not enough to make the two-stop really attractive. As for the undercut, we saw here in Zandvoort last year that it is very effective which is one more factor to take into consideration in preparing for the race.”

Nina Gademan (Alpine Prema) won her home race from pole position with the other Dutch driver Maya Weug (Ferrari-MP) also finishing on the podium after a fine climb up the order from sixth on the grid. She took the chequered flag right on the tail of the second placed  driver, the American, Lia Block (Williams-ART Grand Prix).

Third place means Weug has slightly closed the gap in the championship to Doriane Pin (Mercedes-Prema) who still leads on 112 points, and Chloe Chambers (Red Bull Ford-Campos) second on 93 while the Ferrari driver is third with 79.

THE DAY ON TRACK   

All three compounds were used in the race. On the starting grid, the vast majority of drivers (15) went with the Medium. The trio of Albon, Sainz and Hulkenberg chose the Soft, while Hamilton and Gasly opted for the Hard. In terms of strategy, drivers were pretty evenly split with ten going for a one-stop and nine pitting twice. The longest stint came courtesy of Esteban Ocon who did 55 laps on the Hard, while Gabriel Bortoleto and Liam Lawson went furthest on the Medium (40 laps) with Yuki Tsunoda completing 17 on the Soft.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

“The first part of the season came to an end with a very interesting race, with three drivers fighting for the win. In the end, victory went to Norris, beating team-mate Piastri by a whisker. The two McLaren drivers were on different strategies, the Englishman going for a one-stop, the Australian two. On paper the two-stop was quicker, but the cooler, by about ten degrees, temperatures compared to Friday free practice, slightly closed the gap between the two options, also in part because thermal degradation was reduced for all three compounds compared to what we saw two days ago. Honestly, we still felt the two-stop was best, you just need to look at the gap that Alonso built up, in fifth, compared to Russell. The exception was Norris, who opted to only stop once, after finding himself fifth after the opening lap. The small performance difference between the Medium and Hard along with the clear difficulty in overtaking with cars running pretty similar race pace, made it worth risking an unconventional strategy because at that point, he had nothing to lose.

All things considered, today we still managed to have a race in which different strategies were in play for the win, which made the second half of the race particularly exciting from a tactical point of view, even if not that spectacular in absolute terms.

Before we too go on the summer break following a very busy first part of the season, we still have one more task on track, here at the Hungaroring. On Tuesday 5 and Wednesday 6 August, we will run a test session aimed at 2026 tyre development. On the menu, validating constructions, as these must be homologated by 1^st September and development of the softest compounds, especially from C3 to C5. Supporting us in this on the first day will be McLaren with Norris at the wheel and Racing Bulls with Lawson driving. On the second day Ferrari will run Leclerc, while Alpine is doing both days, the first with Aron at the wheel, the second with both Colapinto and Gasly."

FORMULA 2

It was a one-two finish for Invicta Racing in the Feature Race, Leonardo Fornaroli winning from Roman Stanek. The Italian’s win was all the more impressive as he had to take a five second penalty during the race. It was his third win of the season, a first in a Feature Race. In third place was the American Jak Crawford (DAMS Lucas Oil).

On a track that was still a bit damp, but suitable for slick tyres, 14 drivers started on the Soft and eight on the Medium. The softer compound suffered from a bit of graining because of the lower temperatures this morning, but it helped drivers make up some places off the line. Pitting at the right moment was vital for everyone, in order to still have a good performance level in the closing stages.

Fornaroli is now on 154 points and increases his lead in the Drivers’ standings with Crawford moving up to second on 137. Richard Verschoor (MP Motorsport) drops to third on 135 points, while Luke Browning (Hitech TGR) is up to fourth on 125 and Alexander Dunne (Rodin Motorsport) rounds off the top five on 124 points.

FORMULA 3

Rafael Camara (Trident) was the Sunday star in Budapest. The Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy student won the Feature Race and thanks to the 27 points he picked up today he also clinched the 2025 FIA Formula 3 Drivers’ Championship title. The race started on a wet track but it soon dried out. The Brazilian started from pole for what was a rolling start and then led all the way to the chequered flag, managing the race even though Spain’s Mari Boya (Campos Racing) was an almost ever-present threat. The third step of the podium was occupied by another student from the Maranello Academy, namely Finland’s Tuukka Taponen. Camara’s points total is now unassailable, even if there is still one more round to go in early September in Monza, as second placed Boya is 48 points behind.

The Cinturato Blue Full Wet tyre was put to good use, featuring a new tread pattern. In mixed conditions – the track was very wet at the start before drying out, at least on the racing line – the tyre behaved very well, providing plenty of useful data for future development, not just for this category of racing.

It’s worth noting that the quickest time of the day was actually set in Q2 by Lando Norris (1’14”890) and Leclerc’s pole time would only have secured him fifth spot in the second part of the session.

Of the 39 editions of this race to date, 24 have been won from the front row – 16 from pole, eight from second place. The race has only ever been won from lower than fourth on the grid four times. The lowest grid position that ever led to being first at the chequered flag is 14th courtesy of Jenson Button in the Honda in 2006.

THE DAY ON TRACK 

In FP3, the vast majority of drivers used the Soft to prepare for qualifying. Tsunoda, Stroll, Alonso, Ocon, Bearman, Lawson, Hadjar, Albon and Sainz produced some competitive runs on a set of Mediums, while the Aston Martin and McLaren drivers did their usual scrubbing in of a set of Hards. The Soft was the only tyre run in qualifying.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT

“It was an incredibly close qualifying session, with the first four covered by half a tenth and the top ten in half a second, which is the best possible prelude to a race that looks like being equally fascinating and spectacular. There’s a good chance the weather could change for tomorrow with the possibility of rain, mainly in the morning but also likely during the race. However, unlike a week ago in Spa, I think that today all the teams have set up their cars for the dry at a track where usually, aero levels are set at maximum. The change in the weather, especially as regards temperatures, could possibly lead to some changes in the pecking order, as was seen in the closing stages of today’s qualifying. All it took was a drop of about ten degrees in temperature, a few drops of rain, and a 90-degree shift in wind direction at key points, such as Turn 5 and the final sector, to mix things up and, more importantly, for lap times to get slower, by half a second from Q2 to Q3.

We have not yet fully analysed the data so we can only come up with some general observations, namely that the drop in temperature may have affected the warm-up on the preparation lap, and not everyone adapted to the changing conditions.

If the race is dry, the two-stop strategy using mainly Hard and Medium tyres is clearly the fastest. The one-stop running Medium and Hard could work for those in the midfield aiming to extend their stints by managing thermal degradation, hoping for significantly lower temperatures than those seen yesterday and earlier today. Among the two-stop options, the strategy involving all three compounds cannot be ruled out, starting on Softs to try and make up places early on and then potentially exploiting clean air after the first pit stop. Overtaking is far from easy here and the undercut is highly effective.”

FORMULA 2 

Josep Maria Marti led the Sprint Race from lights out to chequered flag to take his third win in the category. The Campos Racing driver did not have an easy time of it as he was involved in a long duel with his team-mate Arvid Lindblad and on the final lap he had to fend off an attack from Alexander Dunne (Rodin Motorsport). On the third step of the podium was the American Jak Crawford (DAMS Lucas Oil), who took the position off Lindblad in a very close fight after the Safety Car following Sebastian Montoya’s retirement. All drivers started on the Medium, the only exception being Gabriele Minì (Prema Racing), who made the most of having to pit to take a penalty, to switch to Softs.

FORMULA 3 

Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak (Campos Racing) took his second win of the season, fending off Ugo Ugochukwu (Prema Racing) in what turned out to be a one-lap sprint after a Safety Car period in the closing stages. Charlie Wurz (Trident) rounded off the podium having passed James Headley (AIX Racing) on the last lap.

Charles Leclerc made it to the third step of the podium for the third consecutive time at this race. This was also the venue for the Ferrari driver’s maiden win back in 2019.

THE DAY ON TRACK   

Because of the poor visibility due to the rain, after a formation lap, the start procedure was red flagged. The race restarted after over an hour’s delay, behind the Safety Car. All drivers, including the four starting from pit lane were on Intermediates.

After four laps behind the Safety Car, the race began properly on a track that was drying. The first driver to pit to switch to slicks was Lewis Hamilton on lap 11 and within two laps all the drivers did the same. Lando Norris was the only one to opt for Hards, with all the others going with Mediums.

Six drivers, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Fernando Alonso, Franco Colapinto, Isack Hadjar, Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz later made a second stop. The Racing Bulls and Williams drivers went with Hards, while the others opted for Mediums.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

“We knew the rain would play its part today and indeed it did. Once again, poor visibility was the main problem the drivers had to deal with and that led to a delayed start, until the conditions improved. The track was drying quickly when the race got underway and the laps behind the Safety Car also helped in this. When the race was properly underway the Intermediates worked as expected, but obviously they degraded quickly, so that after just a handful of laps it was time to switch to slicks. There was a surprise at this point as we expected the Medium to be the unanimous choice but McLaren split their choices. It has to be said that the C1 worked very well and while being slower than the C3 it was more consistent in terms of degradation, despite the relatively low temperatures.

“The drivers at the front of the field all tried to get to the end with just the single stop. Therefore, for them, managing degradation on the Medium was very important, with the aim of limiting it as much as possible, which they managed to do. Those who then tried to push in the closing stages to make up positions felt an immediate drop in performance which halted their ambitions in this respect. Those who made a second stop towards the end were quicker but not enough to improve their position, because once again today, it was clear that overtaking at this track is not as easy as one might think. We brought an unusual trio of compounds here, with a step between the Hard and the Medium, aiming to provide more strategic options. Clearly, the rain prevented us from fully putting that choice to the test, but we gathered some useful insights to help guide our compound selections for the rest of the season."

 FORMULA 2 

It was a very eventful Feature Race both on and off the track. It rained for the race, with the field starting behind the Safety Car, before being stopped two laps early following an incident involving Sebastian Montoya at Eau Rouge.

Irishman Alexander Dunne (Rodin Motorsport) was first past the chequered flag, followed home by Englishman Arvid Lindblad (Campos Racing) and the Czech Roman Stanek (Invicta Racing). However, after the race, Lindblad was disqualified, while Dunne dropped out of the points, as he was handed a 10 second penalty. The win therefore went to Stanek, with the other podium places now going to Ritomo Miyata (ART Grand Prix) and Luke Browning (Hitech TGR).

This has led to a change in the Drivers’ standings. Jumping into the lead after Spa is Leonardo Fornaroli (Invicta Racing) on 125 points, three ahead of Richard Verschoor (MP Motorsport) and nine more than Jak Crawford (DAMS Lucas Oil).

FORMULA 3 

The Feature Race could not be run because of the rain. There were two attempts to start it, but the conditions made it impossible to race, so the race was cancelled and no points allocated. Therefore Rafael Camara (Trident) still leads the championship on 126 points, ahead of Nikola Tsolov (Campos Racing) on 98 and Tim Tramnitz (MP Motorsport) on 93.

In his 239^th Grand Prix, Nico Hulkenberg finished third to finally record his very first podium finish. It’s the longest any driver has ever had to wait to get to the podium. This was Sauber’s 11^th podium in the sport, leaving out the period when it was in partnership with BMW. The previous time dates back to the 2012 Japanese Grand Prix, courtesy of a third place for Kamui Kobayashi.

THE DAY ON TRACK   

“English Weather” - there are so many meteorological cliches about the British Isles, such as “if you don’t like the weather, wait ten minutes,” or “four seasons in one day” and today Silverstone delivered a perfect example of that, with intermittent drizzle, light rain, overcast skies, sunny periods, heavy rain and fluctuating temperatures. The way today’s Grand Prix panned out was very much down to the “English Weather, with alternating wet and dry conditions creating the scenarios for four of the five types of Pirelli tyre to come into play on track, the only exception being the Extreme Wet. 

All the drivers were on Intermediates for the formation lap, but before the actual start, five drivers, Leclerc, Russell, Bearman, Hadjar and Bortoleto, decided to pit for slicks: the Monegasque, the Frenchman and the Brazilian opted for Mediums and the two English drivers went with Hards. Colapinto was also meant to start from pit lane on the hardest compound, but he had to retire immediately with a power unit problem. With rain due to arrive soon, but on a drying track, Stroll (Soft), Antonelli (Hard) and Bortoleto (Medium) also switched to slicks, but the rain came earlier than expected and those who had chosen to stick with the Intermediates had the advantage, apart from Aston Martin’s Canadian driver, who made the most of the grip from the softest compound, albeit for just four laps.

The Intermediate did most of the work in the middle part of the race. The green-banded tyres worked well over very long stints, many of them well over half the race distance. Their pace was good, even when the track began to dry out, at least on the racing line. Towards the end, the conditions were right for slicks, with the Medium and Soft compounds performing best.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

“It’s hard to imagine a better way to celebrate the 75^th anniversary of Formula 1 than the weekend we have just witnessed. I reckon the half a million people who came to Silverstone over the four days had a great time, despite today’s rain not making life easy for the spectators! Yesterday’s qualifying was unpredictable and so too was today’s race. Congratulations to McLaren for the one-two and to Nico Hulkenberg for his very first Formula 1 podium. It was unexpected but totally well deserved!

“For our part, on the technical front, just as happened here last year, four of the five types of tyre available came into play. It’s a shame we didn’t see the Extreme Wet in action, because it would have been interesting to gauge its performance level compared to the Intermediate, the compound that really shone today, proving to be competitive when there was a lot of standing water on track, as well as when the track was drying in the final stages of the race. Obviously, there was graining and significant wear, both down to the track conditions, but the drivers were able to control tyre use based on how the race unfolded.

“Our work at Silverstone is not yet over. On Tuesday and Wednesday, we will back on track, working with Sauber and Aston Martin in a development test session for the 2026 tyres. Gabriel Bortoleto will be behind the wheel for the Swiss team on both days, while Lance Stroll and Felipe Drugovich will share driving duties for the team based just a stone’s throw from the circuit.

FORMULA 2

Jak Crawford was on dazzling form to take the rain-affected Feature Race win. The DAMS Lucas Oil driver took the lead at the start from third on the grid, fending off Rodin Motorsport’s Alexander Dunne in the closing stages to take the victory. In third place was Luke Browning (Hitech TGR) after an amazing climb up the order from twelfth. Richard Verschoor (MP Motorsport), seventh today, still leads the Drivers’ standings on 122 points, but his lead over Crawford has dropped to six. Dunne is also closing in, now third on 108 points.

FORMULA 3

Mari Boya (Campos Racing) took his maiden Formula 3 win, controlling the race from the front despite torrential rain, which meant the race had to be red flagged. The Spaniard crossed the line ahead of Théophile Nael, second for Van Amersfoort Racing, and Noel Léon, third for PREMA Racing.

The three drivers at the top of the standings all failed to score points in the Feature Race. Only Nikola Tsolov (Campos Racing) added to his tally thanks to the two points for pole position. The Bulgarian is third on 91, two fewer than Tim Tramnitz (MP Motorsport). Rafael Camara (Trident) still leads on 120 points.

This is Verstappen’s 44^th pole position which puts him level with Sebastian Vettel as the most successful Red Bull Racing driver in this discipline. For the Milton Keynes team it is pole number 107, its sixth at this track and the third at Silverstone for Max, following on from those in 2021 and 2023. The second row is an all-Brit affair, with Lando Norris (1’25”010) ahead of George Russell (1’25”029) while the third row will be all-red, courtesy of Lewis Hamilton (1’25”095) ahead of Charles Leclerc (1’25”121).

The Pirelli Pole Position Award was presented to Verstappen by José Mourinho, one of the most successful and influential trainers in the current age of football. After a short career as a player, Mourinho made his name as a manager, taking three national and international titles with Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan - with whom he won the Triple, taking the championship, the Coppa Italia and the Champions League - as well as with Real Madrid, Manchester United and Roma. “The Special One” as he is known, became the first trainer to win all the major UEFA competitions and now manages the Turkish Fenerbahçe side.

THE DAY ON TRACK 

In Free Practice 3, all the teams focused on preparations for qualifying. The two Red Bull Racing drivers each used a set of Hards, thus joining their colleagues from Aston Martin, Williams and Haas in the group of teams who will only have one set of the C2 for tomorrow. As always, the Aston Martin pair performed a scrubbing-in lap on their second sets of Hard. Alonso and Stroll also used a second set of Mediums this morning, as did Ocon and Bearman for Haas and the Williams duo of Albon and Sainz. All the other drivers ran the Soft in FP3.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT

“Silverstone always delivers a great show, on the track and in the grandstands and today was no exception. The outcome of qualifying was only decided in the final moments, with Verstappen delivering a masterful performance to beat really strong opponents. Therefore, all the signs point to an equally closely contested race tomorrow, with at least six drivers in the hunt for victory and the other podium places.

“Neither is strategy clear cut. In fact, the difference between simulations for a one or a two-stop race is very small, of the order of two to three seconds. Therefore, the choice will be mainly down to each car’s performance and their relative tyre degradation. The fastest choice is to run Medium-Hard, with a pit stop between laps 19 and 25. Those opting to pit twice, again running the C2 and C3, should come in the first time between laps 12 and 18 and the second between lap 32 and 38.

“This is a very demanding track, because of the high lateral forces generated through the many high speed corners, and the actual wear of the tyre tread is also a factor. Therefore, in the race, tyre wear will have to be monitored closely, as indeed will graining, which we expect to see, given that temperatures will be similar to today’s, around ten degrees centigrade cooler than in free practice.

 “All three compounds have shown themselves to be viable for the race. Obviously, the Hard and Medium offer more consistent performance over a long stint, but the Soft could come into play both at the start, for those looking to make up places off the line, and in the final stages. It should be noted that four teams, Aston Martin, Williams, Haas and Racing Bulls, have opted to have just one set of Hard and one of Medium for the race. This would suggest they are leaning towards a one-stop strategy. However, if degradation turns out to be higher than they expected, or if opportunities such as a Safety Car present themselves, the Soft could become the obvious choice for these eight drivers.

“The C4 demonstrated that on this type of track, it is capable of delivering its full potential on the first attempt. It’s true that the lap times set after one or two cool-down laps were decent enough, but the advantage of a new tyre over a used one was significant.”

FORMULA 2

Leonardo Fornaroli won the Sprint Race. Invicta Racing’s Italian thus secured his maiden F2 victory, his very first win in four years, the last dating back to his time in F4 in 2021. Starting from pole, Fornaroli was passed off the line by Maini but then retook the lead with a nice passing move on the opening lap. He then kept the lead to the chequered flag. Standing on the second step of the podium was Sebastian Montoya (Prema Racing), who had a strong race, from sixth off the grid. Third was the Czech, Roman Stanek (Invicta Racing).

FORMULA 3

Today, Silverstone provided the backdrop for the very first win for a Thai driver in this category, since it took on the name of FIA Formula 3 Championship. Campos Racing’s Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak was the driver in question and he briefly lost the lead at half-distance, but once he regained it, no one was able to catch him. Martinius Stenshorne worked his way up from sixth to second at the flag for Hitech TGR, ahead of Mari Boya, to make it a double podium for the Spanish team.

This is McLaren’s 197^th win, the eighth this season and the seventh at this race. Spielberg is proving to be the track that suits Norris best in F1: one win, one pole position, three podium finishes and 108 points scored from nine starts.

THE DAY ON TRACK   

Soft and Medium were both seen on the starting grid. Five drivers (Gasly, Colapinto, Bearman, Hadjar and Hulkenberg) drove the first stint on the C5, while the other 15 went with the C4.

As the race evolved, naturally the Hard also came into play, with Ocon using both his sets of C3, having started on the Medium. His Haas team-mate, Oliver Bearman, the only other driver with two sets of Hards available, actually crossed the finish line on a set of Mediums. The English Haas driver, along with France’s Isack Hadjar in the Racing Bulls and Aston Martin’s Canadian driver Lance Stroll, were the three drivers who used all three compounds. Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg was the only driver never to have used the hardest compound available in Spielberg.

The race distance was reduced by one lap, after the start was aborted because Carlos Sainz in the Williams was left immobile on the grid on the formation lap. The longest stint overall was down to Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) who drove 41 laps on the Hard. As for the Medium, Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) takes the prize with 33 laps. The Spaniard and New Zealander Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) planned to make just one pit stop and they both finished in the points.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

“The first race weekend in the height of summer saw our tyres behave as expected, both yesterday in qualifying and today in the race. Over 70 laps run in very high temperatures – the track varied between 52 and 55 °C – degradation across the three compounds was higher than during Friday free practice, when temperatures were between 15 and 20 °C lower, however not by a significant amount.

“All three compounds proved they could play their part, both at the start, with five drivers choosing the C5 for the first stint, while Stroll tried to do something different, fitting it with about 15 laps remaining. As expected, the two-stop was the quickest strategy, but those who tried the one-stop proved to be pretty competitive, to the extent of finishing in the top ten. In terms of performance, the Hard and Medium proved to be quite similar, while the Soft was competitive in the opening laps, but then obviously dropped off, starting from around laps 7 and 8.

“Now we head for Silverstone, a track that is always very hard on tyres. We have chosen a trio of dry weather compounds that is a step softer than in the past (C2, C3 and C4) and we are keen to see how they will perform and what effect this will have on race strategy.”

FORMULA 2

Richard Verschoor (MP Motorsport) took his third win of the season in the Feature Race. The Dutchman started from third on the grid, before taking the lead and controlling the race from start to finish. Ireland’s Alexander Dunne (Rodin Motorsport) went from seventh to second, while poleman Leonardo Fornaroli (Invicta Racing) rounded off the podium. With 30 points scored this weekend, Verschoor moves into the lead of the Drivers’ championship on 114 ponts, six ahead of Dunne. The American Jack Crawford (DAMS Lucas Oil) who finished fourth today, is next up on 85 points, two more than Fornaroli.

18 drivers opted to start on the Supersoft, the remaining four on the Soft. The softest compound was very quick but experienced significant degradation, so that the initial stint was very short. Overall, the Soft was easier to manage, even though it suffered from overheating and graining. Drivers had to be cautious in their approach to several corners to maintain sufficient balance of performance between the two axles, even if in the end rear tyre wear made itself felt. Those who took a conservative approach early on in the stint then had the advantage towards the end.

FORMULA 3

Martinius Stenshorne (Hitech TGR) won the Feature Race. The Norwegian actually crossed the finish line second behind Bulgaria’s Nikola Tsolov (Campos Racing) who was later disqualified for a technical infringement. Promoted to second therefore was Germany’s Tim Tramnitz (MP Motorsport) while inheriting the final place on the podium was Spain’s Mari Boya (Campos Racing).

There were plenty of overtaking opportunities in the race. Tyre degradation was manageable but unavoidable, allowing drivers to decide when to push or when to save their tyres to then use them at the most opportune moment.

Rafael Camara (Trident), fifth today, leads the championship on 117 points. Tramnitz  moves up to second on 93, moving ahead of third placed Tsolov on 89.

The qualifying results, at least for the first two rows, are identical to those of the recent Monaco Grand Prix: Charles Leclerc's Ferrari is in second place (1'04‘492), while third and fourth places are occupied by his teammates, with Oscar Piastri (1'04’554) ahead of Lewis Hamilton (1'04"582).

The Pirelli Pole Position Award was presented to Norris by Christopher Valka, the lucky winner of the “Ö3 Superfan” competition organised by Austrian radio station Hitradio Ö3.  The winner was able to get special access and a behind the scenes look at the Austrian Grand Prix.

THE DAY ON TRACK 

In the third free practice session the Soft was the most used compound by a long way. Only seven drivers added any variety to the tyre usage colour chart: Verstappen ran a set of Hards while the Alpine, Racing Bulls and Aston Martin pairs used a set of Mediums, with Alonso and Stroll also doing their usual scrubbing-in lap on the Hard.

As for qualifying, there were no exceptions, with everyone running just the Soft. As track temperature came close to 50 °C, the C5 proved to offer a good level of performance even on a second run, whether from drivers doing the second one in the same run or from those who pitted in between runs.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT

“On what is such a short track in terms of lap time, one usually sees very small gaps separating the cars and that was the case in Q1, with all 20 drivers covered by less than one second. That only serves to make Lando’s final Q3 lap all the more impressive. Tomorrow, we can expect a closely contested race, even if McLaren clearly start as favourites. As for strategy, we believe that a two-stop is the quickest choice, running the Medium and Hard. A one-stop is doable, given that tyre degradation is quite low, in fact probably even lower than expected, but on paper it is still significantly slower, by around seven seconds. On top of that, overtaking is definitely possible at this track as there are three DRS zones.

“It’s worth nothing that drivers from three teams – Aston Martin, Racing Bulls and Alpine - will have a set of Hard and one of Medium available, while the Haas pair will have two of Hard and one of Medium.”

FORMULA 2

Josep Maria Martì (Campos Racing) took his second F2 win in today’s Sprint Race. The Spaniard started from fifth on the grid and got a great start, after which he overtook Joshua Duerksen to take the lead. The AIX Racing driver finished second, the position from which he had started, while Roman Stanek (Invicta Racing) rounded off the podium places.

FORMULA 3

James Wharton delivered an impeccable performance to take a hard fought win in Spielberg, his maiden victory in the FIA Formula 3 series. The ART Grand Prix rookie fended off the advances of Alessandro Giusti all race long, the MP Motorsport driver having to settle for second. Ugo Ugochukwu (PREMA Racing) was third, to record his first podium finish in this category.

Max Verstappen finished second to record his fifth Montreal podium finish, while for the first time this year, there was no McLaren driver on the podium. In fact, the previous time that happened was at last year’s Las Vegas Grand Prix.

THE DAY ON TRACK   

On the starting grid and indeed in pit lane, as Lawson and Gasly started from there, the teams were almost equally split between Medium (11 drivers) and Hard (nine). The two hardest compounds were the outright protagonists today and it was only right at the end, when the Safety Car came out that a few drivers, namely Piastri, Stroll, Bearman and Hadjar, fitted a set of Softs, but they got virtually no use out of them as the race finished behind the Safety Car.

The longest stints overall were completed by Ocon (Haas) and Sainz (Williams), who did 57 laps from the start on Hards. As for the Medium, Albon (Williams) covered the greatest distance, running 23 laps on the set of C5s he used from the start.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

“A very closely contested race from start to finish, as can be understood from the fact that when the Safety Car came out, the top five drivers were separated by less than seven seconds, with just four laps to go to the chequered flag.

In terms of strategy, the two-stop proved to be fastest with the Hard compound being the most effective. Making one stop was possible but, honestly, it was really only an option for those starting from the back half of the grid who therefore had less to lose. Those starting from the front rows were able to push in all stints thus giving rise to a very hard fought race, with notable differences in stint length and in the sequence of compound use. The most effective tyre was the Hard, even if we had little data on it available, given that during Friday free practice only Sauber used it. The Medium probably suffered a bit because of the temperatures being higher than on the first day.

This was the third event of the year which featured the C6. Clearly, we will now carefully analyse all the data gathered here to work out if and how to use it again this season after the summer break. Here too we saw that the difference in outright performance between the newcomer and the C5 is relatively small – one to one and half tenths – but, as we predicted yesterday, having a wider range of compounds allowed the team a greater range of strategic options. Honestly, if we did not have the C6, we would have had to bring the same trio as last year, namely C3, C4 and C5, and it’s probable that would have produced a more linear race with just the one pit stop.

Finally, let me say that, as an Italian, I was very happy to see one of our compatriots on the podium. It’s the first time it’s happened since Pirelli returned to Formula 1 in 2011 and interestingly, the last time an Italian driver finished in the top three in a car running our tyres was also here in Montreal in 1991, when Stefano Modena in a Tyrrell-Honda finished second, behind winner Nelson Piquet in a Benetton-Ford, also fitted with Pirellis.

Our work continues next week with an important test for 2026 wet weather tyre development. Working with Ferrari, we will be using their Fiorano track where Zhou Guanyu will drive on 19 June, followed by Charles Leclerc on 20^th.”

A busy weekend for the F1 Academy as drivers tackled an additional third race to make up for the one not run in Miami and by the end of the weekend the championship order was very different. Doriane Pin (Mercedes operated by PREMA Racing) is the new series leader on 109 points, the Frenchwoman leaving Montreal with one win, a podium and a fourth place. She has a 20 point lead over Chloe Chambers (Red Bull Ford operated by Campos Racing), who won the third race this weekend. Maya Weug (Scuderia Ferrari operated by MP) has dropped to third on 72 points, managing only one sixth place in race 3. Noteworthy is a first win for Emma Felbermayr (Kick Sauber operated by Rodin), who was first past the flag in yesterday’s Sprint race. Prema Racing leads the teams’ standings on 178 points, ahead of Campos Racing (151) and MP Motorsport (122).

The all-female series will be back on track on the same card as the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort from 29 to 31 August.

The second row features championship leader Oscar Piastri for McLaren, third in 1’11”120 ahead of Andrea Kimi Antonelli, fourth in the second Mercedes in 1’11”391.

The Pirelli Pole Position Award was presented to Russell by Summer McIntosh. The Canadian swimmer has won three gold medals (200 butterfly, 200 and 400 individual medleys) and a silver in the 400 freestyle at the Paris Olympics in 2024. A few days ago, between 8 and 12 June, Summer set three world records during the Canadian trials held in Victoria, in the 400 freestyle and the 200 and 400 individual medleys.

THE DAY ON TRACK 

In the third free practice session, once again the Soft did almost all the work, with the majority of drivers (Verstappen, Antonelli, Russell, Stroll, Alonso, Colapinto, Gasly, Lawson, Hadjar, Albon, Sainz, Hulkenberg and Bortoleto) only using the C6, while the Mercedes, Aston Martin and Racing Bulls pairings scrubbed-in one or more sets of Hards.

In qualifying, the Medium compound was used more extensively than usual, with eight drivers (Verstappen, Antonelli, Russell, Stroll, Alonso, Colapinto, Gasly and Albon) running one or more sets of C5 at the expense of the more usual use of the softest compound available.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT

“An extremely exciting qualifying session, which is very much the norm at the moment in Formula 1: with 27 seconds remaining in Q3, there were four changes of pole-sitter! It is very rare to see a driver set the pole time on the Medium in a dry session – the last time dates back to the 2020 Portuguese Grand Prix courtesy of Lewis Hamilton - but today we had four drivers set their best times in Q3 on the C5, and indeed, this scenario became every more likely as the weekend progressed. It explains why, this morning, many drivers worked exclusively with the Soft, either to understand how to extract the most from it or indeed to save new Mediums for the grid deciding session.

Since it first appeared in Imola, we have seen that the difference in performance between the C6 and the C5 is quite small, let’s say of the order of a tenth to a tenth and a half, and that the C6 delivers peak performance in a narrower operating window. Here in Montreal, several drivers preferred to rely on the C5 that they know well, rather than venture into chasing that extra bit of performance the C6 might offer, feeling more comfortable with a compound that gave them more confidence when it comes to tackling a tricky track like this one with its kerbs and walls. The result was a Q3 order with four yellow circles in the tyre column alongside each driver’s best lap.

The expansion of the 2025 compound range is also having the indirect effect of delivering a greater variety of approaches from the teams and drivers in terms of tyre usage over the weekend and that will be reflected in tomorrow’s race. As for strategy, we think a two-stop is still the most plausible option, favouring the use of the Medium and Hard. The one-stop is theoretically possible, but unlikely to pay off, especially as overtaking is possible here. The C6 could be a useful choice for the start, for example for those with two new sets of Hards available, who are planning a relatively short first stint or for anyone banking on an early appearance from the Safety Car.”

Charles Leclerc finished third to claim his 46^th podium finish, his first in this event. It is Ferrari’s third podium of the season, the 39^th at this race.

THE DAY ON TRACK   

Lance Stroll did not take part in the race and for the start, most of the remaining 19 drivers opted for the Soft for the first stint: ten went with a used set and eight with a new one, while Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to fit Mediums for his start from pit lane.

The appearance of the Safety Car in the closing stages prompted almost all drivers to make an additional stop, with the Red Bull drivers pitting in total four times, having previously decided on a three-stop strategy. That meant Verstappen had to take on a set of Hards for his fifth and final stint, thus providing a small splash of white on the race’s tyre usage colour chart.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

 “A very interesting Sunday in terms of tyre usage. As happened last year at this track, the Soft turned out to be the most competitive tyre, maybe even more so than in 2024. In terms of degradation, the data we saw today is pretty much in line with what we got from Friday free practice, namely that it was significant but manageable. Wear was also significant but there were no surprises, even if in some stints, the limit was reached on the front left, the tyre that comes under the most stress at this track.

“Some drivers did over 20 laps on a set of Softs, even though they started with a full fuel load, while others managed to do 30 or even more on a set of Mediums. Then there was the Red Bull variable, as they tried to mix things up by going for a three-stop strategy, which on paper was clearly slower. They had nothing to lose with Tsunoda, as he was starting from pit lane, but with Verstappen it was a gamble that should have ensured a podium, allowing him to finish not far off the McLarens. However, the Safety Car in the closing stages changed things for Max, who had driven a very aggressive race up to that point, always pushing to the maximum, but then his chances were wiped out.

“Pirelli will stay at this circuit for two days of testing on Tuesday and Wednesday, which will be very important for 2026. On this occasion, Mercedes, Red Bull Racing and Racing Bulls will provide cars and drivers. On Tuesday, George Russell will be on track for Mercedes, while Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson will both drive a Racing Bull. On Wednesday, Kimi Antonelli will be at the wheel of the Mercedes, while Yuki Tsunoda will drive a Red Bull.”

FORMULA 2

Arvid Lindblad converted pole position into a win in the Feature Race. The Campos Racing driver crossed the line ahead of Sebastian Montoya (PREMA Racing) and Richard Verschoor (MP Motorsport). All three chose to start on the Soft before switching to the Hard, which as expected proved to be the most efficient strategy. In fourth place, Jak Crawford (DAMS Lucas Oil), had extended his first stint on the Hard to lap 22, in the hope of a Safety Car, but that only came out right at the end, which meant he was unable to exploit being on fresher Softs which could have seen him finish on the podium. Alex Dunne (Rodin Motorsport) finished fifth today and leads the Drivers’ classification on 87 points, just three more than Verschoor and eight more than Lindblad.

FORMULA 3

A dominant performance saw Rafael Camara (Trident) win the Feature Race. The Brazilian, racing in Ferrari Driver Academy colours, started from pole and did a good job of managing the two restarts after Safety Cars, going to win ahead of two French drivers: Theophile Nael (Van Amersfoort Racing) and Alessandro Giusti (MP Motorsport). In the Drivers’ standings, Camara has overtaken Bulgaria’s Nikola Tsolov (Campos Racing), who is now 26 points behind (105 to 79). Third is Germany’s Tim Tramnitz (MP Motorsport) on 70.

Despite not scoring this weekend, Brazil’s Rafael Camara (Trident) still leads the Drivers’ standings on 77 points, 12 more than Germany’s Tim Tramnitz (MP Motorsport) and 16 ahead of Tsolov.

Both drivers who will make up the second row set an identical time of 1’11”848, with Max Verstappen in the Red Bull claiming third place on the grid by virtue of the fact that he set the time twelve seconds before George Russell did it in the Mercedes.

The Pirelli Pole Position Award was presented to Piastri by Marta Garcia. The Spanish driver was the first F1 Academy champion in 2023 and is currently competing in the Le Mans Cup with the Iron Dames team. In 2024, with that same team, she raced in European Formula Regional.

THE DAY ON TRACK 

Yellow and red were the dominant tyre colours in FP3. There’s just a tiny streak of white down to the Aston Martin drivers as usual scrubbing-in a set of the Hards. Seven drivers, Leclerc, Antonelli, Russell, Ocon, Bearman, Sainz and Albon, only ran Softs, with Williams’ Thai driver just using one as he only did five laps. In qualifying, everyone went with the C3.

MARIO ISOLA - PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT

“The Barcelona-Catalunya track is always a severe test for car and tyre performance. Today we saw one team yet again monopolising the top two spots on the timesheets, but behind them, it's very tight, and I expect the race will reflect that. It will be fascinating to see how the teams approach a race that always puts significant stress on the tyres. A two-stop strategy is almost obligatory, and I reckon the Medium and Soft compounds will see most of the action. We saw yesterday that the Hard tyre tends to slide too much and the lap times compared to those on the softer compounds reflect that.

“On paper, the Soft-Medium-Soft strategy is fastest, as was the case last year. Three drivers, Ferrari’s Leclerc and the Haas drivers Ocon and Bearman, have saved two sets of Mediums, clearly aiming to use them in the race. For those starting on Softs to make the most of the extra grip early on, with some drivers having new sets of the C3, the first stint should extend to at least lap 12. Then, based on simulations, they’ll aim to stretch the second stint to around lap 40, finishing with a final Soft stint. With a lighter car, that last set should be enough to get to lap 66. Drivers aiming for a more balanced race and planning to use the second set of Mediums will likely stop a few laps earlier. It’s also worth noting that undercuts are particularly powerful on this track.

“As for the performance of the C3 in qualifying, we saw its worth over a flying lap, as had already been evident in the three free practice sessions. The sudden seven degree drop in temperature in Q3, definitely saw the track get quicker, which paid off for those who had chosen to delay their last run as much as possible.”

FORMULA 2

Tyres played a key role in the Sprint Race. The Safety Car on lap 18 when the two PREMA Racing drivers, Gabriele Minì and Sebastian Montoya collided, opened the door for some drivers to switch from the Hard to the Soft. Ten did just that and the ones who made the most of it were Richard Verschoor (MP Motorsport) and Alexander Dunne (Rodin Motorsport). At the restart on lap 21, these two who were tenth and 11^th respectively at the time, started to charge through the field all the way to first and second places at the chequered flag, separated by just 380 thousandths of a second. Rafael Villagomez (Van Amersfoort Racing) also made the most of the Soft to claim his first podium in this category in third place.

FORMULA 3

A one-two finish for Van Amersfoot Racing in the Sprint Race, with Portugal’s Ivan Domingues taking his first F3 win ahead of Mexico’s Santiago Ramos. The third step on the podium went to Campos Racing’s Bulgarian driver, Nikola Tsolov.

Also on the podium were the local hero, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc for whom this was his second podium of the season and his second at this race and Drivers’ Championship leader, Oscar Piastri.

THE DAY ON TRACK   

The shape of the race was conditioned by the rule stating that all drivers had to use three sets of tyres, one of them being from the obligatory specified compounds, the Medium and Hard. All the drivers conformed to the rule, while Bortoleto actually stopped three times, as he had to make an additional stop after crashing into the guardrail on the opening lap.

The majority of drivers went for a combination of Medium and Hard, while the drivers from the six teams who had only one set of the C5 and C4 each, used all three compounds. There was a very wide variety of stint lengths. Some drivers, such as Tsunoda (Red Bull) did 72 laps on a set of Hards after just doing the opening lap on a set of C6, before finishing with three laps on the Mediums.

Others, including the three drivers on the podium, split their race into more equal length stints: Norris did 19 laps on his first set of Mediums and then used two sets of Hards (31 and 28 laps); Leclerc did the first 22 laps on the Medium before doing 27 on the Hard and then finishing with 29 on Mediums; Piastri did the same as his team-mate (20-28-30). Verstappen, who finished fourth, made his second stint on Mediums as long as possible (49 laps) before having to pit again on the penultimate lap when he was leading.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

“It’s not easy to give a verdict in the heat of the moment on the race that’s just ended, but I believe it’s fair to say that it was well worth trying something different in such a unique Grand Prix as this one. One has to say that the new regulation introduced for this event certainly got people talking about what might happen in the race, both those inside the sport and also the fans. While it’s true that the first four past the flag finished in grid order, it is also true that there were five changes of leader, with three different drivers involved, while behind them there was plenty of action, certainly more than usual, and more than we saw last year for example.

Honestly, I think that overall, the spectators at the track and those watching on television, even if they were not majorly entertained, were certainly not bored, which has often been the case in races that haven’t been enlivened by unusual circumstances such as rain or safety cars. In the end, this is Monaco, take it or leave it: qualifying that leaves you with your heart in your mouth and a race where overtaking is almost impossible. Only after a careful analysis of the race, can everyone involved deliver an accurate verdict on this experiment.

On the tyre front, as expected the Medium and Hard were the most used compounds: both proved capable of being able to cover almost the entire race distance without the need to pit. It’s possible the Medium required a bit more management, but overall, its level of degradation was more than acceptable. This weekend the C6 proved to be a good qualifying tyre, but above all, it played a tactical role, obviously pushing the teams to use the Medium more and, let’s not forget that this tyre was the Soft last year. That was exactly our goal and we await with keen interest to see how it will perform in Montreal, another type of track.”

FORMULA 2

Jak Crawford (DAMS Lucas Oil) won the Feature Race, his second victory of the year. The American made his obligatory stop just before the Safety Car came out in the closing stages of the race, thus getting ahead of the leading trio to take the lead, before a second red flag brought an already shortened race to a preliminary end. Leonardo Fornaroli (Invicta Racing) was second, having lost the lead in the closing stages, with Sebastian Montoya third for Prema Racing, after Arvid Lindblad was penalised towards the end of the race. Luke Browning (Hitech TGR) is the new championship leader on 70 points, three more than Alexander Dunne (Rodin Motorsport) and six ahead of Fornaroli.

FORMULA 3

Nikola Tsolov is the first driver ever to win five FIA Formula 3 races, having dominated the Monaco Feature Race on Sunday. Having started from pole, Campos Racing’s Bulgarian driver got a great start, going on to win with a seven second margin. Roman Bilinski (Rodin Motorsport) finished second ahead of Tsolov’s Campos team-mate, Spain’s Mari Boya.

Despite not scoring this weekend, Brazil’s Rafael Camara (Trident) still leads the Drivers’ standings on 77 points, 12 more than Germany’s Tim Tramnitz (MP Motorsport) and 16 ahead of Tsolov.

Third and fourth places went to their respective team-mates. Oscar Piastri third (1'10"129) and Lewis Hamilton fourth ('10"382) which looked like a modified remake of last year here, when Leclerc was on pole with Carlos Sainz third and the McLarens second and fourth. However the seven time world champion was later given a three place grid penalty, for impeding Max Verstappen which drops him to seventh. That promotes the Red Bull driver to the second row with his time of 1'10"669. 

The Pirelli Pole Position Award was presented to Norris by the South Korean actor, Lee Jung-jae. The role that brought him fame on a global scale was the lead in the Nextflix series “Squid Game,” but he has also appeared in the Disney+ series, “Star Wars: The Acolyte.” His role in “Squid Game” brought Lee nominations for Golden Globe, Emmy and Screen Actors Guild Awards.

THE DAY ON TRACK 

In the third free practice session, all the drivers continued working on performance and on gaining maximum confidence in pushing their cars to the very limit on this track. Almost all of them only used the C6 compound tyre, but the six drivers from Red Bull, Aston Martin and Sauber also used a set of Mediums each. The Hard also put in an appearance but only for the usual scrubbing-in lap with five drivers: Hamilton, Stroll, Alonso, Lawson and Hadjar. It’s worth noting that the Aston Martin duo, the devotees of this practice, also did the same with their second set of Hards and one of Medium.

In qualifying, the chart summing up tyre usage features several splashes of yellow among a sea of red. In fact, eight drivers used a set of Mediums: Leclerc (Q2), Hamilton (Q2), Russell (Q2), Alonso (Q2), Colapinto (Q1), Gasly (Q1), Ocon (Q3), Sainz (Q2), Albon (Q2 e Q3).

MARIO ISOLA - PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT

“What a qualifying session! Saturday in Monaco always delivers plenty of excitement and that was the case once again today. For us, it was very interesting to see how the C6 performed in qualifying again and I believe we can say that, on this track, the softest compound in the 2025 range offered a little something extra in terms of performance compared to the C5. We’re definitely not talking about a big difference, around a tenth of a second or so, a tenth and a half, but it was definitely there. Yes, we saw some drivers using the Medium in qualifying which confirms the performance gap is not that big and also, as we saw last week in Imola, that in some situations, the C5 can offer greater confidence compared to its softer sibling, something that takes on great importance at this track. Usually, Sunday can be less exciting than Saturday in Monaco, but I think that this time we can expect a different afternoon’s action to usual.

In terms of strategy, tomorrow’s race will be a one-off. The changes to the Sporting Regulations introduced specifically for this Grand Prix require the use of at least three sets of tyres, which means anything is possible in terms of the pit stop windows, given that there really are so many theoretical possibilities, not to mention appearances from the Safety Car being quite likely at this track. All three compounds will come into play: in fact, drivers from three teams, Red Bull, Racing Bulls and Sauber, only have one set of Hard tyres and one of Medium, so they are bound to have to use the C6 during the race.

We know how good the teams are when it comes to exploiting any opportunity presented by the regulations, so we can expect some surprises, including in terms of stint lengths.”

FORMULA 2

Kush Maini took the win in the Sprint Race: Dams Lucas Oil’s Indian driver started from pole position and kept the lead all the way to the chequered flag. Following Maini home, in his slipstream for almost the entire race was Gabriele Minì (Prema Racing). The Italian made the most of a poor start from Englishman Luke Browning (Hitech TGR) to move up to second place, where he stayed to the flag, ahead of another Englishman, Arvid Lindblad. The Campos Racing driver was later given a ten second penalty, dropping him to eighth place, which promoted Browning back to the final podium place.

FORMULA 3

A Scandinavian one-two finish in the Sprint Race with Norway’s Martinius Stenshorne coming home first ahead of Finland’s Tukka Taponen. The Hitech TGR driver finished just two seconds ahead the ART Grand Prix car, with the French team’s other driver, Dutchman Laurens Van Hoepen rounding off the podium. 

The Pirelli Pole Position Award was presented to Norris by the South Korean actor, Lee Jung-jae. The role that brought him fame on a global scale was the lead in the Nextflix series “Squid Game,” but he has also appeared in the Disney+ series, “Star Wars: The Acolyte.” His role in “Squid Game” brought Lee nominations for Golden Globe, Emmy and Screen Actors Guild Awards.

THE DAY ON TRACK 

In the third free practice session, all the drivers continued working on performance and on gaining maximum confidence in pushing their cars to the very limit on this track. Almost all of them only used the C6 compound tyre, but the six drivers from Red Bull, Aston Martin and Sauber also used a set of Mediums each. The Hard also put in an appearance but only for the usual scrubbing-in lap with five drivers: Hamilton, Stroll, Alonso, Lawson and Hadjar. It’s worth noting that the Aston Martin duo, the devotees of this practice, also did the same with their second set of Hards and one of Medium.

In qualifying, the chart summing up tyre usage features several splashes of yellow among a sea of red. In fact, eight drivers used a set of Mediums: Leclerc (Q2), Hamilton (Q2), Russell (Q2), Alonso (Q2), Colapinto (Q1), Gasly (Q1), Ocon (Q3), Sainz (Q2), Albon (Q2 e Q3).

MARIO ISOLA - PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT

“What a qualifying session! Saturday in Monaco always delivers plenty of excitement and that was the case once again today. For us, it was very interesting to see how the C6 performed in qualifying again and I believe we can say that, on this track, the softest compound in the 2025 range offered a little something extra in terms of performance compared to the C5. We’re definitely not talking about a big difference, around a tenth of a second or so, a tenth and a half, but it was definitely there. Yes, we saw some drivers using the Medium in qualifying which confirms the performance gap is not that big and also, as we saw last week in Imola, that in some situations, the C5 can offer greater confidence compared to its softer sibling, something that takes on great importance at this track. Usually, Sunday can be less exciting than Saturday in Monaco, but I think that this time we can expect a different afternoon’s action to usual.

In terms of strategy, tomorrow’s race will be a one-off. The changes to the Sporting Regulations introduced specifically for this Grand Prix require the use of at least three sets of tyres, which means anything is possible in terms of the pit stop windows, given that there really are so many theoretical possibilities, not to mention appearances from the Safety Car being quite likely at this track. All three compounds will come into play: in fact, drivers from three teams, Red Bull, Racing Bulls and Sauber, only have one set of Hard tyres and one of Medium, so they are bound to have to use the C6 during the race.

We know how good the teams are when it comes to exploiting any opportunity presented by the regulations, so we can expect some surprises, including in terms of stint lengths.”

FORMULA 2

Kush Maini took the win in the Sprint Race: Dams Lucas Oil’s Indian driver started from pole position and kept the lead all the way to the chequered flag. Following Maini home, in his slipstream for almost the entire race was Gabriele Minì (Prema Racing). The Italian made the most of a poor start from Englishman Luke Browning (Hitech TGR) to move up to second place, where he stayed to the flag, ahead of another Englishman, Arvid Lindblad. The Campos Racing driver was later given a ten second penalty, dropping him to eighth place, which promoted Browning back to the final podium place.

FORMULA 3

A Scandinavian one-two finish in the Sprint Race with Norway’s Martinius Stenshorne coming home first ahead of Finland’s Tukka Taponen. The Hitech TGR driver finished just two seconds ahead the ART Grand Prix car, with the French team’s other driver, Dutchman Laurens Van Hoepen rounding off the podium. 

Joining him on the podium were the McLaren duo of Lando Norris, second and pole sitter Oscar Piastri in third spot.

THE DAY ON TRACK   

As expected, the Hard and Medium tyres were the only two compounds used in the race. For the start, five drivers - Hamilton (Ferrari), Tsunoda (Red Bull), Antonelli (Mercedes), Bearman (Haas) and Hulkenberg (Sauber) – chose the C4 for the opening stint, with all the others going with the C5.

The Hard completed 812 laps (67.39%) and the Medium did 393 (32.61%). The longest stint on both compounds was 34 laps with Russell, Alonso, Gasly, Leclerc, Lawson and Sainz doing so on the C4, while Tsunoda and Hulkenberg went the same distance on the C5.

Of the drivers who finished, two made just one stop – Tsunoda and Hulkenberg, while Bortoleto pitted three times. The others all stopped twice, on at least one occasion making the most of a Safety Car period.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

“An exciting incident-packed race brought a very busy weekend to a close, which for us featured the outright debut of the new C6 compound. Now, it will be important to analyse all the data from these three days thoroughly, as it should provide useful insights for coming races, especially in terms of tyre compound allocation for races in the second half of the season.

“What we can say right now is that the decision to go with a trio of compounds one step softer than last year proved to be the right one. If we look at the first part of the race, as the second was affected by neutralisations, we saw that in a situation where all the drivers were managing their pace in the opening stint, it only required one of them to make an unexpected move – in this case Leclerc pitting early on lap 10 – to trigger changes in strategy. Some chose to extend the first stint as much as possible, obviously going for a one-stop race, while others realised that the Ferrari driver’s undercut worked very well and were forced to react. In fact, on fresh tyres and with a clear track ahead of him, Leclerc made up a lot of places.

“Of course, what happened in the second part of the race makes it hard to know for certain to what extent such an early pit stop would have paid off, or if the move would have forced those who did so into switching to a two-stop strategy. It means that, in general, the decision to go with softer tyres still opened the door to more choices, both in terms of the number of stops and the length of the stints.”

FORMULA 2

Alexander Dunne won the Feature Race. Rodin Motorsport’s Irish drivers thus secured his second success of the season thanks to the way the pit stops played out, along with some overtaking moves in the crucial stages. Behind him across the line came the two Hitech TGR drivers, Englishman Luke Browning second ahead of Sweden’s Dino Beganovic. The win means Dunne also now leads the championship with 64 points, six more than Browning.

As regards the tyres, the majority of drivers (13) chose to start on the Supersoft to pit at the earliest opportunity to change to Softs. Whereas those who decided to start on the harder compound ran the risk of having a Safety Car period after half-distance. This duly happened which meant some drivers had to make an additional stop. As is often the case, the variety of strategies led to plenty of duels and overtaking on track.

FORMULA 3

Mexico’s Santiago Ramos won the Feature Race. He was the protagonist of a long fight, swapping places several times with Brazil’s Rafael Camara (Trident). The key move came with three laps to go when Ramos made the decisive pass. The Brazilian then lost second place to his team-mate, Denmark’s Noah Stromstedt. However, Camara still leads the championship on 73 points, 21 more than Stromstedt.

As for the tyres, managing degradation was the key to the final result. Those who did a good job of it in the early stages and were able to run clear of traffic, had the upper hand in the end.

Sharing the second row will be George Russell in the Mercedes (1’14”807) and Lando Norris (1’14”962) in the other McLaren. These four drivers were the only ones to get under the 1’15” barrier.

The Pirelli Pole Position Award was presented to Piastri by Gianni Morandi. The singer, an iconic figure in Italian culture, has sold more than 50 million records worldwide. His song, “In ginocchio da te” (on my knees in front of you) featured in the soundtrack of the South Korean film “Parasite” which won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival as well as four Oscars at the 92nd edition of the Academy Awards. Morandi’s career also features numerous appearances as an actor in films and TV series, as well as hosting television programmes, including the Sanremo Italian Song Festival, which he won in 1987 singing “Si puo dare di piu” (you can give more) with Enrico Ruggeri and Umberto Tozzi.

THE DAY ON TRACK 

There was far more variety than usual in terms of Saturday tyre use. The Hard made its first appearance of the weekend in FP3, the Aston Martin pair of Alonso and Stroll completing some runs with them and they will therefore only have one set each available for the race. They also used a set of Softs. Norris also did a scrubbing-in lap on a set of C4s. The Alpine, Haas and Sauber drivers only used the C6, with the other drivers splitting runs between the Soft and Medium.

For once, summing up qualifying in terms of colours, tyre usage was not monochromatic. The red C6 was the dominant hue, but there were several splashes of yellow. Aston Martin took advantage of having more sets of Mediums than the rest by doing three runs on this compound – two in Q2 and one in Q3. Russell set the third fastest time on his only set of C5s, thus sacrificing the possibility of using them as a new set on which to start the race, in favour of seeing how effective they were over a flying lap. 

MARIO ISOLA - PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT

“This qualifying session needs to be analysed carefully in terms of tyre behaviour, as it produced many interesting insights. Everyone was keen to see how the C6 would perform in qualifying, comparing it to the C5. From the initial data and listening to the immediate comments from the teams and drivers, we can say that the performance difference between the two softest compounds in the 2025 range is relatively small, which is what was predicted. What we saw today, on a track that didn’t evolve much compared to the first two hours of free practice, was that it wasn’t easy for the drivers to extract the full potential from the C6. Keep in mind that this compound had never been run on the 2025 cars and during the end-of-season test in Abu Dhabi, only eight of today’s 20 drivers tried it. So it’s likely that they need to get to understand it better in order to get the most out of it. This meant that some drivers preferred to go with the C5, a compound they know well, given that it was already the qualifying tyre for the previous two races in Jeddah and Miami. They chose to sacrifice a bit of grip in exchange for the lap time advantage that comes from the predictability of a tyre with which they have more experience and more data.

“As for strategy, the one-stop is still the most viable choice, especially on a track where overtaking is rather complicated, in part because there is only one DRS zone and also because this is the longest pit lane of the season in terms of time lost during a pit stop. Clearly, the combination of Medium and Hard, with a stop between laps 17 and 23, is the most likely. As an alternative, some drivers might prefer to go for a longer first stint, starting on the Hard, in the hope of an eventual Safety Car, in which case the switch to Medium would be between laps 37 and 43. A two-stop strategy is not out of the question in terms of total race time, but the factors just mentioned mean it is at a disadvantage. For anyone attempting this, the best combinations would be Medium-Hard-Hard.”

FORMULA 2

The American Jak Crawford (DAMS Lucas Oil) won the Sprint race, taking the chequered flag ahead of two British drivers, Arvid Lindblad (Campos Racing), second, and Luke Browning (Hitech TGR), third.

As for the tyres, managing degradation was key. On a track where, even in F2, overtaking is complicated, those who managed to maintain a reasonable level of grip for the final stages were able to make up places. The front right tyre showed some signs of graining, while the rears suffered from overheating: also important was managing the performance balance between the two axles in the various stages of the race.

FORMULA 3

A one-two finish for the MP Motorsport team in the first race, with the German Tim Tramnitz winning ahead of Spanish team-mate Bruno del Pino. Onto the third rung of the podium stepped the Bulgarian Nikola Tsolov (Campos Racing). The race featured a battle at the front of the field between the two MP Motorsport drivers, with Tramnitz passing pole-sitter Del Pino, in the braking zone for Turn 1 on lap 3, after which he kept the lead to the chequered flag. A long Safety Car period from laps 5 to 9 meant the drivers were able to get to the finish without suffering too much degradation, except for right at the end.

Joining them on the podium was George Russell (Mercedes) his fourth top three finish of the year, with one second and three third places.

THE DAY ON TRACK   

As predicted prior to the event, on the grid the drivers were split into two groups, 13 of them opting for the Medium tyre for the first stint, thus adhering to the theoretically quicker strategy and the rest who went with the Hard, banking on being able to delay the pit stop window, in the hope of making the most of a safety car period in which to pit, or to deal with the possibility of rain, the threat of which was there throughout the race.

Two drivers shared the longest stint of 36 laps on a set of Hards, Nico Hulkenberg in the Sauber and Lance Stroll in the Aston Martin. As for the Medium, 29 laps was the longest stint, accomplished by both McLaren drivers and the Ferrari pair of Charles Leclerc who drove his first stint on the C4 and Lewis Hamilton who used it for his second stint.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

“It was a very straightforward race as far as the tyres were concerned. From the little data gathered over the weekend it had become clear that, despite bringing a trio of compounds one step softer than last year’s in order to create more strategy choices, it would probably still be a one-stop race and so it proved to be. There was very limited degradation on the C3 and the C4, in fact on the latter it was even less than expected. That explains why drivers who started on the Medium were able to extend their first stint to the halfway point of the race or even further, especially as the Virtual Safety Car made it easier for the leaders to switch to the Hard compound.

The low tyre degradation also contributed to the many battles, especially early on when drivers were able to push as hard as they wanted. It was a different scenario to the one we witnessed in Suzuka for example, a month ago. The track characteristics here are very different, with overtaking possibilities, and it also demonstrates how difficult it is to have everything in place to produce the great show that the fans deserve to see.”

McLaren’s Lando Norris (1’26”269) will start alongside Verstappen, securing his place on the front row with a time just two thousandths of a second quicker than Andrea Kimi Antonelli, third for Mercedes in 1’26”271. Current leader of the Drivers’ championship, Oscar Piastri is fourth in 1’26”375 in the other McLaren. The Pirelli Pole Position Award was presented to Verstappen by Brunello Cucinelli, a symbol of Italian fashion around the world, through the eponymous brand he established at just 25 years of age and best known for its cashmere products. Cucinelli is a proponent of the “humanistic capitalism” business model which combines profitability with human dignity to build a beautiful, ethical and sustainable economy.

McLaren scored a one-two finish in the Sprint, with Norris ahead of Piastri, while Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton completed the podium trio. This was the English McLaren driver’s second win in a Sprint, the fourth for the Woking squad.

THE DAY ON TRACK 

The Sprint was conditioned by heavy rain that fell before the start, while later the track surface pretty quickly dried out. It produced a race where the Intermediate tyres were used for two thirds distance, although Sainz (Williams) gambled on Extreme Wets at the start, but a red flag and the delayed restart saw him also switch to the green-banded intermediates, followed later by slicks. Of the eighteen drivers who saw the chequered flag – Leclerc was a non-starter and Alonso ended up in the barriers – four of them, Norris, Hamilton, Verstappen and Doohan, drove their final stint on Softs while the rest ran Mediums.

The C5 was the only tyre used in qualifying, with almost all drivers making their first run in Q1 on a used set. The set that had seen the most action belonged to Verstappen, the reigning world champion using it in FP1 and in the closing stages of the Sprint.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT

“A very busy qualifying session, featuring a very close fight for the top places, with the top three drivers, from three different teams, separated by just 67 thousandths of a second, showing how closely matched are the cars this season.

The Sprint was also action-packed, mainly due to the weather. The heavy rain that fell before the start meant that the Intermediate was the only choice. Once a dry racing line began to appear, these tyres started to wear a lot, especially the front right and the lap times got significantly slower. The switch to slicks immediately proved to be the way to go, to the extent that eventually the entire field pitted for dry tyres, including those at the front who had built up a good margin over their pursuers.

This could be a factor to consider for tomorrow if it were to rain again. In that situation, drivers will have to be very careful in managing the Intermediates. If the race is run in the dry, the small amount of data gathered yesterday and today, with just one free practice session and the Sprint run almost entirely in the wet, only serves to consolidate the strategy forecasts from before the weekend. Despite the move to a trio of compounds one step softer than in 2024, the one stop is on paper, the quickest, with Medium and Hard as the obvious choices. Nine of the ten teams – Racing Bulls being the exception – have kept two sets of C3 per driver, not necessarily with the intention of using both in the race, but to have a backup in case of safety cars or red flags, something which is far from unlikely at this track.”

Doriane Pin made the most of all her experience to win a chaotic Race 1, which featured no fewer than three safety car periods. The Frenchwoman, from the Mercedes-Prema team, crossed the finish line ahead of the English driver Alisha Palmowski (Red Bull-Campos) and the American Chloe Chambers (Red Bull Ford-Campos), the latter having secured pole position in the morning, which will see her start at the front of the field in Race 2. She was presented with her Pole Position Award by the surfer Anastasia Electra Ashly. Today’s win sees Pin close to just one point behind the Drivers’ championship leader, Maya Weug (Ferrari-MP) who finished fifth today.

Four teams have now won this race, with Red Bull having three victories to its name, while McLaren joins Mercedes with one. This was the Woking squad’s fourth win of the year, its 193^rd in total.

Max Verstappen claimed his third podium finish of the season with today’s second place finish, meaning he has always been a top three finisher in Jeddah with two wins and three second places. Charles Leclerc was third for Ferrari, his third podium here, with one second place and two thirds in the past two years.

THE DAY ON TRACK   

There were few surprises on the grid, with just four drivers (Norris, Stroll, Hadjar and Hulkenberg) choosing to run the Hard for the first stint with the other 16 all going for the Medium. Three of these (Doohan, Ocon and Bortoleto) then immediately made the most of the first lap Safety Car following the collision between Gasly and Tsunoda, to switch to the Hard.

The strategies chosen matched our pre-race expectations, both in terms of the number of stops and the timing of the pit stop windows. Of the top teams, the only ones that tried something different were Leclerc, who went as long as possible on his first stint on Mediums (lap 29), and Norris who started on the Hard, pitting on lap 34. In fact, the longest stint of 49 laps was completed by Ocon (Haas), who having stopped at the very beginning, then went all the way to the chequered flag.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

“This Grand Prix matched our pre-race expectations in terms of tyre performance and the way the strategies worked. Despite bringing a softer trio of compounds compared to last year, and with track temperatures on average 7 °C higher, degradation on the C3 and C4 was very minimal. It meant that, given how evenly matched are the teams, the way the race played out was the natural outcome.

“We only saw a few cases of blistering on the left front, but not enough to impact tyre performance in a significant way. As for overheating, some cars struggled a bit, but it was to be expected with these temperatures and on a track where the tyres never get a chance to “breathe”.

“Now we have the first chance to catch our breath before heading for another continent, as we prepare to race in the USA for the first time this season, in Miami. At a track with very different characteristics to this one, we will have the same selection of dry tyre compounds as were used here in Jeddah, and yet again that will be a step softer than last year’s race. It will be interesting to see how the teams deal with that, especially as it will be the second Sprint weekend of the year.”

A great win for Richard Verschoor (MP Motorsport) in the Feature Race. The Dutchman started on the Medium and extended his first stint as much as possible, pitting after 23 laps. Once on the Supersoft, he made the most of the extra grip and on the final lap he managed to pass Jak Crawford (DAMS Lucas Oil), who had opted to start on the softest compound before switching to the harder one on lap 7, once the pit stop window was open. The American was therefore the quickest of those who had gone for the classic strategy but they were wrongfooted by Verschoor, who thus made up for losing the Sprint win because of a penalty, as he secured his fifth Formula 2 victory. Coming home third was Victor Martins (ART Grand Prix) who fought Crawford for much of the race.

The Medium performed as it had done yesterday in the Sprint, in other words, with very limited degradation allowing the drivers to push as hard as they wanted. As expected, the Supersoft meanwhile showed high degradation and drivers opted to minimise its use.

Verschoor now leads the Drivers’ championship on 53 points followed by Spain’s Martì (Campos Racing) 12 points behind and Italy’s Fornaroli (Invicta Racing) third, 13 points off the leader.

A first win of the season for Maya Weug (Ferrari operated by MP), who crossed the line in second place, but was promoted to first because pole-sitter and first past the chequered flag, Chloe Chambers (Red Bull Ford operated by Campos) was given a five second penalty for a collision between the two drivers in the early part of the race. However, the American limited the damage with a great final lap in which she clinched the additional point for the race fastest lap, as well as just finishing second by 65 thousandths of a second ahead of Doriane Pin (Mercedes operated by Prema), who was classified third. The three girls also head the championship standings after the opening two rounds: Weug moves into the lead on 59 points, with Pin second on 52 and Chambers third with 47.

The third round takes place from 2 to 4 May as part of the Miami Grand Prix programme.

In third place, having briefly been quickest, was George Russell with a lap in 1’27”407, while sharing the third row with the Mercedes driver will be Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, fourth in 1’27”670.

Apart from the first edition of this race in 2021, when Lewis Hamilton was fasting in qualifying for Mercedes, Red Bull has always taken pole at this track, in 2022 and 2023 with Sergio Perez and now for the last two years with Verstappen. It was his 42^nd career pole, the 105^th for Red Bull Racing.

The Pirelli Pole Position Award was presented to Verstappen by Anthony Anderson. The American actor was nominated for a Golden Globe two years in succession for his leading role in the TV series “Black-ish,” which he also produces. He currently hosts “We Are Family” on FOX TV. He has also appeared in film franchises including “Scary Movie,” “Transformers,” “Scream” and crime series, “Law & Order” and “The Shield.” His most recent role was in the film “G20” shown on Amazon Prime Video, which also stars Viola Davis.

THE DAY ON TRACK 

Once again in the third free practice session, all driver studiously avoided the Hard, with just the Aston Martin and Racing Bulls drivers running their usual scrubbing in lap, the former also doing this with a set of Mediums.

Otherwise, red was the colour, with the sole exception of Gabriel Bortoleto, who used a set of Mediums to get used to the track, given that he had to miss FP2 yesterday because of a problem on his Sauber. All the other drivers used two sets each of the Soft.

MARIO ISOLA - PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT

“What a qualifying session that was, especially Q3! In the final five minutes pole position changed hands five times, and as further proof of how close is this season there are four drivers from four different teams in the top four places.

“Of course the Soft was the sole protagonist in qualifying, and on its debut here in Jeddah we saw that the C5 is competitive not just over the first flying lap, but also good for a second attempt.

“When it comes to strategies, we don’t feel the situation has changed since yesterday and it’s no coincidence that, although it’s not yet confirmed, the vast majority of drivers, 15 of the 20 to be precise, have all saved two sets of Hards. The C3 seems to offer the best performance and, without too much degradation a one-stop strategy is on paper the quickest way, with the order Medium-Hard being favourite, pitting between laps 14 and 20. There are a couple of reasons why many have opted to save two sets of this compound: firstly to be ready for any possible safety car situations, which have often been seen at this track and secondly, to have a backup in case there’s a significant step up in degradation tomorrow.

“Those starting from the back end of the grid might aim to make up positions by swapping the order of use of the compounds, (i.e. C4 then C3) pitting from lap 30. A two-stopper is not too far off in terms of total time taken, with a difference of around 5 seconds and would again involve using the C3 and C4. The C5 could be an option for drivers looking to make the most of its superior performance over the first few laps to make up places, or if there were to be a safety car in the closing stages of the race.”

A one-two finish for Campos Racing in the Sprint Race, with the 17 year old English driver Arvid Lindblad winning from Spain’s Josep Maria Martì. The Red Bull rookie is now the youngest ever Formula 2 winner since the category was reintroduced in 2017.

All drivers used the Medium compound tyre and, as expected, it showed very little signs of degradation, which meant the drivers could push as hard as they liked for all 20 laps.

Ella Lloyd (McLaren operated by Rodin) won the first of the two Jeddah races, fighting off a hard-charging Maya Weug (Scuderia Ferrari operated by MP), the two girls separated by just 167 thousandths at the chequered flag. The final step of the podium went to Alisha Palmowski (Red Bull Racing operated by Campos). Doriane Pin (Mercedes operated by Prema) continues to lead the championship by three points from Weug, after finishing fourth today.

THE DAY ON TRACK   

15 drivers went with the Soft for the first stint, while the remaining five (both Ferraris, Alonso, Lawson and Bortoleto) chose the Medium. In fact, all three compounds came into play as can be seen from the variations in the percentage usage: 45.83% on the Medium (517 laps), 28.01% on the Hard (316) and 26.15% on the Soft (295).

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

“A spectacular race with plenty of battles and overtaking from start to finish. All three compounds chosen for this round, which were actually the same as those last week in Suzuka, were brought into play, creating a mix of strategies that made the race even more interesting.

“The level of degradation, despite slightly cooler temperatures than yesterday and Friday, was still significant across all three compounds, meaning that a two-stop was the only real choice. The performance differences between the Hard, Medium and Soft were clear to see in absolute terms and were also dependent on which cars were using them at different stages, which made the race even more dynamic, especially when one considers how evenly matched the teams are at the moment. In fact, that’s one of our goals as the tyre supplier, namely to provide a reliable product that allows for a range of strategy options, after which it’s up to the teams to make the most of it.

“Now we head to Jeddah and yet another completely different type of race track, where for the first time this season we will bring a trio of compounds that are softer than those used at this race last year. Let’s see what happens.”

FORMULA 2

Alexander Dunne (Rodin Motorsport) won the Feature Race, to record his first victory in this category. The Irishman took the chequered flag ahead of the English driver Luke Browning (Hitech TGR) and Italy’s Leonardo Fornaroli (Invicta Racing). These three also head the classification, but in the reverse order: the Italian leads by one point ahead of his two rivals, while Spain’s Josep Maria Marti (Campos Racing) is fourth, three points behind last year’s Formula 3 champion.

As was the case in yesterday’s Sprint, the Soft was again probably the tyre most favoured by the drivers in the Feature Race. However, the Hard also worked well, because the overheating which mainly affected the softest compound, reduced the performance difference between the two choices. It led to an interesting race, with a balanced mix of strategies, the most effective being Soft-Hard.

FORMULA 3

Rafael Camara (Trident) won the Feature Race, making the most of starting from pole. The Brazilian thus extends his lead in the Drivers’ standings, 26 points ahead (56 to 30) of Germany’s Tim Tramnitz (MP Motorsport), who finished third today. Second past the chequered flag was the Brit, Callum Voisin, (Rodin Motorsport), third in the championship, three points behind Tramnitz.

From a tyre point of view, the race was affected by high temperatures, with degradation derived from overheating across the rear axle. The wind was stronger than yesterday and this made the cars more unstable. As always, those who did the best job of managing the tyres in the early stages, gave themselves a significant advantage towards the end, making up several places. Alternating push laps with others where the pace was managed to cool the tyres worked well.

Because of a one place grid penalty given to both Mercedes drivers, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc will start alongside Piastri, having been third quickest in qualifying in 1’30”175. Russell (1’30”009) now moves back to the second row, alongside Pierre Gasly (1’30”216) in the Alpine, while Andrea Kimi Antonelli (1’30”213) is fifth on the grid.

The Pirelli Pole Position Award was presented to Piastri by DJ and record producer, R3HAB. His highest ranking in the Top100DJs list is a twelfth place thanks to his collaborations with world famous artists such as Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Calvin Harris, Taylor Swift and Katy Perry. On Friday night, he entertained the crowd at the Bahrain International Circuit with his DJ set.

THE DAY ON TRACK 

During Free Practice 3, a further five drivers used a set of Hards, leaving Verstappen as the only driver not to have tried the C1 this weekend. In qualifying, all drivers used the C3, which in these conditions and on this track surface produced their maximum performance on the first flying laps, without any possibility of recovering.

In terms of the usage of dry weather compounds, the pattern this weekend has been slightly unusual compared to the norm, with many different choices, even if not yet officially confirmed: eleven drivers have two sets of Mediums and one set of Hards available, eight have one each of the Medium and Hard and Verstappen is the only driver to have two sets of Hard and one of Medium.

MARIO ISOLA - PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT

“We saw a far more uncertain and closely contested session than had been expected, proving just how unpredictable Formula 1 can be at times. From a race strategy perspective, the picture is actually more complex than it might seem at first glance.

“The first points is that all three tyre compounds can come into play and although a one-stop is clearly slower on paper, it cannot be ruled out completely, especially as eleven drivers have one new set of each of the Hard and Medium. This group might consider starting on the Mediums and extending the first stint as much as possible, before switching to the Hards. If there is excessive degradation in the closing stages of the race then, switching to Softs, even new ones for those who did not take part in all three qualifying sessions, could offer a performance advantage, with no need for further stops.

“For a two-stop strategy, on paper the fastest route involves using two sets of Mediums and one of Hards, with pit stop windows between laps 14 and 20 and then again between laps 34 and 40. Those who want to make the most of having extra grip from the Soft for the start will need to pit earlier, between laps 10 and 16 to make the most of the potential undercut advantage, which is very effective at this track. Finally, there’s the option to use all three compounds, for example for those who only have one new set each of the Hard and Medium available.”

FORMULA 2

Excitement all the way to the flag in the Formula 2 Sprint Race. The win went to Spain’s Josep Maria Marti (Campos Racing) who produced an amazing driver to come through from 11^th on the grid. The top three finishing order was only decided on the last lap with a wheel to wheel battles between Martí, Dutchman Richard Verschoor (MP Motorsport), Paraguayan Joshua Dürksen (AIX Racing), and Swede Dino Beganovic (Hitech TGR), who crossed the finish line in that order.

In terms of tyre strategy, most drivers decided to start on the Option compound and it proved to be the right choice, because with good tyre management in the early stages, drivers still had good performance available in the closing laps. A late safety car saw several drives change tyres, both those who had started on the Prime and drivers further down the order, leading to a rush of battles for position.

FORMULA 3

The Formula 3 Sprint was also spectacular, with the Bulgarian Nikola Tsolov (Campos Racing) taking the win ahead of two rookies, the English driver Freddie Slater (AIX Racing) second, and Finland’s Tukka Taponen (ART Grand Prix) third. The race was affected by a few safety cars, but it was closely contested and the outcome was only decided in the final metres, when Tsolov managed to defend the lead he had taken off Slater at the final restart.

In terms of the tyres, the race was run in extreme conditions, with track temperatures exceeding 50 °C. It was a very close race with the 23 drivers all crossing the finish line covered by just 17”. Those who did the best job of managing tyre overheating were able to exploit the remaining grip at the end and make up places.

Today’s was the Dutchman’s 64^th career win, Red Bull’s eighth in Japan, the 123^rd overall for the Christian Horner-led team.

McLaren could celebrate a double podium with Lando Norris second and Oscar Piastri third, with the English team’s podium total in this race now up to 29.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli set two new records today when he took the chequered flag in sixth place. He knocked Max Verstappen off the top of the tables for the youngest driver to ever lead a Grand Prix and to set the race fastest lap.

THE DAY ON TRACK   

15 drivers, all on the top eight rows, lined up on the starting grid having chosen the Medium for the opening stint. The only exception was Hamilton who opted for the Hard. On the back two rows, the places were split between Hard and Soft: Ocon and Bortoleto chose the C1, Stroll and Doohan the C3.

Almost the entire field made just the one stop, the quickest strategic option according to analysis of Friday’s data. The Hard compound was the near universal choice for the second stint, although Sainz and Lawson ran the race without using the hardest tyres, going for a Medium-Soft strategy instead. Stroll was the only driver to run all three compounds.

The longest stint of all came courtesy of Doohan who ran a set of Hards for 38 laps, while Sainz and Lawson went all the way to lap 33 on the Medium before pitting.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

 “When the top six on the grid take the chequered flag in the very same order, it’s easy to characterise the race as boring. While I wouldn’t go so far as to say we witnessed the most thrilling show in the sport’s history, there was still some close racing. You only have to look at the top three, separated by just 44 thousandths in qualifying and then finishing within two seconds of each other in the race.

“After a fairly cautious first part, especially through the first sector, the most demanding from a tyre perspective, in the second part, all the drivers pushed all the way to the end. In fact, 14 of the 20 drivers set their fastest lap in the final five laps. It’s worth noting that Antonelli’s time of 1’30”965 was 2”741 quicker than last year’s fastest race lap, set by Verstappen, which shows just how much the performance has improved compared to 2024.

“On a track where thermal degradation has traditionally played a major role, today we saw virtually no drop in lap time performance with the Hard and Medium compounds, even over long stints. That was down to the low ambient and track temperatures, actually the lowest recorded at Suzuka since 2011. The other contributory factor is the improvements brought to the 2025 tyre range, specifically aimed at reducing this type of wear. Another of our technical objectives was to limit graining and today, even with these low temperatures, we saw almost no signs of this issue across the field.”

Verstappen was just fractionally faster than the McLaren duo: Lando Norris was second, 12 thousandths of a second slower, with Oscar Piastri third at a distance of 44 thousandths.

The Pirelli Pole Position Award was presented to the four time world champion by Jean Alesi. The Frenchman raced 12 times at Suzuka, his best result being a third place with Ferrari in 1994. Alesi, who is very popular in Japan, also raced in one (1995) of the two Pacific Grand Prix events held at Aida. His Formula 1 career ended here in Suzuka in 2001, having taken part in 201 grands prix, with one win to his name, in Canada in 1995.

THE DAY ON TRACK 

All three compounds were used in the third free practice session. The five drivers who did not use the Hard yesterday - Verstappen, Tsunoda, Norris, Ocon and Bearman – did so today, although the McLaren driver only did a single scrubbing-in lap.

In qualifying the only splash of yellow in an otherwise totally red picture in the context of tyre use, was down to Hamilton who opted for the Medium for his first run in Q1. Today’s pole time is 1”214 faster than that set by Verstappen last year.

MARIO ISOLA - PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT

“Once again we witnessed a qualifying session that was exciting from the beginning, all the way to the chequered flag and beyond, with pole position changing hands three times in the final minute, ending with the top three within 44 thousandths of a second.  

“Tomorrow’s race is also shaping up to be a thriller, because the weather is uncertain, with the forecast for rain definitely expected in the morning, with the possibility of it also falling from 2pm onwards, while if it’s dry, then various strategies are possible. Firstly, it’s worth underlining that all three compounds can have a part to play. The Soft, which has even offered a good level of performance beyond one flying lap could on paper be used by those looking to do a one-stop and those opting for a two-stop.

“The data from the weekend has tipped the scales marginally towards a one-stop strategy, with the fastest option being one set of Medium and one of Hard. Simulation suggests the two-stop is not that far off, with all combinations possible, whether using two or all three compounds. The rain could play an important role, even if it does not fall during the race. In fact, depending on its strength, track conditions could revert to those seen yesterday morning, before the cars had starting running. That could make graining more likely and therefore the choice could swing back towards a two-stop. As you can see, there are so many variables in play, ensuring unpredictability and a great show.”

For the second consecutive time this season, George Russell stood on the third step of the podium to secure Mercedes’ 300th podium finish (129 wins, 98 second places and 73 thirds). This particular list is headed by Ferrari on 829 ahead of McLaren with 527 and Williams with 313.

THE DAY ON TRACK   

On the starting grid, 17 drivers opted for the Medium for the first stint with only Lance Stroll and Oliver Bearman going for the Hard, while Liam Lawson also opted for the C2, but he started from the pit lane because of a penalty. While all the indications going into the race were for a two-stop strategy being clearly the most plausible, the way the race went and the tyre behaviour, especially in the case of the Hard that had not been used at all over the previous two days, steered the majority of the field towards a one-stop the more the cars ran on track.

Those who started on the Medium pitted to take on the C2 in a window between laps 10 and 20, Pierre Gasly the first to stop and Alex Albon and Nico Hulkenberg the last. Meanwhile, the three drivers who started on the Hard ran a variety of stint lengths: Lawson came in on lap 18, Bearman on 26 and Stroll stayed out until 36. Apart from these three, Gabriel Bortoleto had to pit on the opening lap to go straight onto the Hard, before coming in for another set of C2s after 25 laps.

In the second part of the race, it became clear that the Hard tyre was working very well, with only slight degradation. Three drivers (Hamilton and the two Racing Bulls) nevertheless went for a second stop, leaving the rest of the field to go all the way to the chequered flag. Of those who started on the Hard, Stroll and Bearman did their second stint on the Medium.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

“One of the key points of this Grand Prix was finding out how the Hard performed at this track. Clearly, data gathered over the first two days here, especially from the Sprint, gave the teams indications of how to change the car set-up in order to protect the front axle as much as possible, as it was the one most susceptible to graining. Track evolution meant it decreased on the Mediums compared to what was seen in the short race, even if for some teams, the wear was still significant. For its part, the Hard displayed only limited graining and more significantly, it performed very consistently including over very long stints, even allowing drivers to attack in the closing stages, as was the case with Verstappen for example. When evaluating C2 behaviour, one should bear in mind that it is the compound that has undergone the biggest changes of any in the 2025 range and therefore was something of an unknown quantity for all the teams.

All things considered, it was quite an interesting weekend on a track, or specifically on a track surface, that produced very significant performance gains. For example, even today, the fastest race lap was 2”741 quicker than last year’s set on a very similar lap to last year, with Hamilton on lap 41 today and Alonso on lap 45 last year. With the first double-header now done and dusted, Formula 1 takes a short break before tackling a triple-header on tracks that are very different to each other, even if they all hold the promise of exciting racing, starting with the round in Suzuka over the first weekend in April.”

France’s Doriane Pin won Race 2 in Shanghai, the opening round of the F1 Academy season, the all-female series for which Pirelli is the sole tyre supplier. Driving for the Prema team, supported by Mercedes, Pin got the better of another series veteran, Maya Weug (MP-Ferrari), who had started from pole position. Joining them on the podium in third place is another driver in her second season in this category: Chloe Chamber (Campos-Red Bull Ford) did so by passing Alba Larsen (MP-Hilfiger) on the penultimate lap. Race 1 winner, the British driver Alisha Palmowski finished sixth. Pin thus leads the classification on 31 points, five ahead of Weug, seven more than Chambers. Campos leads the teams’ standings on 50 points ahead of MP Motorsport on 40. The second of the seven rounds in the series takes place in Jeddah from 18 to 20 April.

This is McLaren’s 166^th pole, the third in row after those at the final race of 2024 in Abu Dhabi and in Melbourne last Saturday. The last time the English squad was on pole in Shanghai dates back to 2008, courtesy of Hamilton. Piastri is the fifth Australian to take an F1 pole, after Jack Brabham, Alan Jones, Mark Webber and Daniel Ricciardo.

The Pirelli Pole Position Award was presented to Piastri by Aarif Lee (Li Zhiting), a singer, songwriter and actor originally from Hong Kong. Li Zhiting made his film debut in “Echoes of the Rainbow,” which earned him two best upcoming actor awards. He next played Bruce Lee in the biopic, “Bruce Lee, My Brother” and starred alongside Jackie Chan in the comedy, “Kung Fu Yoga” as well as appearing in several successful Chinese TV series.

THE DAY ON TRACK 

All drivers started the Sprint race on used Mediums. Managing graining in the only real opportunity to evaluate the tyres over a long run was the dominant theme of the 19 laps, with quite noticeable differences, not just between teams but also between drivers in the same cars. There was slightly more graining today than yesterday, which accelerated wear, but in fact the data gathered from the Sprint meant all the teams were able to change their set-up. How that affects tyre behaviour will be seen tomorrow in the race. 15 of the 20 drivers did their first Q1 run on a set of used Softs. The track continued to evolve throughout the day but less rapidly than yesterday. However, it still delivered lap times a further three tenths quicker than anything ever seen at this track in Formula 1. 

MARIO ISOLA - PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT

“A day of records. In qualifying we saw yesterday’s lap times beaten and in the Sprint, taking into account the stint from today’s winner compared to the same event last year, we saw lap times over four seconds faster, even though temperatures were significantly higher. From one year to the next, we therefore see a huge increase in performance, much greater than that based on simulations going into this race, which it should be noted, are based on data received from all the teams. It was therefore absolutely logical to raise the minimum pressures for the start, by one psi on each axle.

As for strategy, the level of degradation leads us to suggest that a two-stop is obligatory, featuring the Medium and the Hard. Although the new Soft is fairly close to the Medium in terms of performance, we don’t think it’s a valid choice, even if it could offer more grip off the start line. In fact, those starting near the back might go for the Hard to extend the first stint as long as possible, before making up places in the run of pit stops.

What we can be sure of is that everything would seem to be in place to deliver an uncertain and exciting race. In yesterday’s Sprint Qualifying, we saw the top three covered by just 80 thousandths, while today it was 82: a further indication of just how close it all is in Formula 1 in the early part of the 2025 season.”

Alisha Palmowski is the first winner in this season’s F1 Academy series. The British Red Bull Racing-Campos driver took the chequered flag just 206 thousandths ahead of the American Chloe Chambers, her team-mate who races under Red Bull Ford colours. Palmowski profited from the penultimate lap retirement of the Dutch driver Nina Gademan (Alpine-Prema) who, having started from pole, led the race to within ten kilometres of the finish. On the third step of the podium was her fellow countrywoman, Ferrari’s Maya Weug, who took pole yesterday and so started eighth today with the reversed grid. The race had three neutralisations. The second race of this all-female championship for which Pirelli is the sole tyre supplier, takes place tomorrow morning.

Joining Norris on the podium were four-time world champion Max Verstappen (Red Bull) finishing 0”895 behind the winner, with another Englishman, George Russell crossing the line third in his Mercedes, 8”481 behind.

THE DAY ON TRACK   

With light rain falling but gradually easing off, all drivers lined up for the formation lap on the intermediates, apart from Lance Stroll who opted for a set of extreme wets on his Aston Martin. However, Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) went off the track so the start was aborted and by the time the race resumed after around ten minutes or so, the Canadian driver had changed to the same rubber as his colleagues. For the first seven laps, another Aston Martin was in the lead, but it was the DB9 Safety Car driven by Bernd Maylander, called out immediately following crashes for Jack Doohan (Alpine) and Carlos Sainz (Williams).

In between that first restart and a second Safety Car, prompted by Fernando Alonso who hit the barriers in his Aston Martin, all drivers had used the same set of intermediates.

This time, the appearance of the Safety Car triggered a switch to slicks, with the remaining 16 drivers going for either Medium or Hard. However, the rain returned which made it impossible to judge the relative performance of the two compounds, because the entire field, either sooner or later, had to pit again for intermediates, which they then kept to the chequered flag.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

 “What a start to the 75^th season of Formula 1! In the space of just over a hundred minutes we experienced so many emotions with the result hanging in the balance to the very last lap, not just for the win, but also for the other top ten places.

“From a purely technical point of view, today we were able to see how the 2025 version of the intermediate performed, proving to be a tyre that allowed the drivers to push flat out and for many laps even on a track where a dry racing line had emerged. There was only a little bit of graining on the front left, the tyre that gets the most stress at this track, but in general, we saw that degradation was minimal. There’s not much to say about the slicks because the stints were pretty short, between ten to 14 laps meaning it’s hard to give a complete evaluation of their performance.

“Now, along with the ten teams in the championship, we are preparing for the second round of the season, already next week in Shanghai. It’s a very different track to Melbourne, where we will find a brand-new track surface and at a Sprint weekend, so it’s an extra challenge right from the second race.”

FORMULA 2

The Feature Race was cancelled because of the adverse weather conditions. The next round takes place over the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend at the Sakhir circuit from 11 to 13 April.

FORMULA 3

Rain and the Safety Car were the main players in the Feature Race, with several neutralisations and then a red flag which shortened it by two laps (four for the final count). Brazil’s Rafael Camara emerged victorious having controlled every restart, fending off the attentions of Danish driver Noah Stromsted, his Trident team-mate. Joining them in third place on the podium was France’s Théophile Nael (Van Amersfoort Racing).

Pirelli’s 16” wet weather tyre, developed specifically for the new generation of car in this category, performed as expected with good warm-up despite the various interruptions, without showing signs of aquaplaning while delivering quite consistent grip during the race. The next round takes place alongside the Bahrain Grand Prix, at the Sakhir circuit from 11 to 13 April.

This was Norris’ tenth pole position, his second in a row, given that he also secured the number one grid slot at the final race of last year in Abu Dhabi. Tomorrow will see a McLaren start the Australian Grand Prix from pole for the 12^th time, the previous occasion dating back to 2012 when, with Lewis Hamilton fastest ahead of Jenson Button, it was another one-two for the Woking squad.

The Pirelli Pole Position Award was presented to Norris by Kyle Chalmers. The Australian swimmer was the 100 metre freestyle champion at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and then took silver in the same discipline at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, a feat he repeated three years later in Paris. He has a total of nine Olympic medals to his name between individual and relay races: one gold, three silver and five bronze. In four world champions he amassed a further five gold, four silver and three bronze. Two days ago, he and his fiancée, the Norwegian Ingeborg Løynin, also a swimmer, announced that they are expecting their first child.

THE DAY ON TRACK 

The third free practice session saw the Soft get plenty of use, although the Hard also carved out a role for itself. Seven drivers from four teams (Stroll and Alonso, Aston Martin, Gasly, Alpine, Hadjar and Tsunoda, Racing Bulls and Albon and Sainz, Williams) did one or more runs on a set of C3, following on from the Mercedes pair who used the hardest compound in yesterday’s free practice. Therefore, tomorrow almost half the grid will only have one set of C3 available. It’s worth noting that four other drivers, the McLaren and Ferrari pairs, used a set of Hards but only for a scrubbing-in lap. However, Hamilton and Leclerc, along with Stroll and Alonso also did this with a set of Mediums.

In qualifying, 18 drivers only ran the Softs, the exceptions being George Russell and Kimi Antonelli, who opted to start Q1 on the Medium. Today’s pole position time was 819 thousandths faster than last year’s, when Verstappen posted a 1’15”915. Norris’ lap was almost four tenths faster than Pirelli’s simulation prior to the event, based on information supplied by all the teams.

MARIO ISOLA - PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT

“A very close and spectacular qualifying session, a statement supported by the data, with the 15 qualified drivers in Q2 separated by a little over seven tenths, seven teams in the top ten and nine in Q2. The final run in Q3 was very exciting with pole position changing hands four times.

“Tomorrow looks like being very unpredictable, firstly because the current forecast is for heavy rain in the morning, which is due to weaken in the afternoon. Therefore, we could be confronted with three possible scenarios. The first is for a race run entirely in the wet, in which case anything could happen. For us, it could be an opportunity to see the new extreme wet tyre in action, modified this year with a slightly different tread design.

The second is that it’s run entirely in the dry, in which case, based on the much lower level of graining compared to previous years, that we have seen over the past two days, the one-stop could be the quickest solution featuring the Medium and Hard. The C3 and C4 have both shown almost zero degradation with very similar performance levels. Furthermore, even if the race is run entirely in the dry, we need to consider the possibility that the track surface condition will have been reset because of earlier rain and lower temperatures, conditions that are more likely to lead to graining. In this case, the two-stop could be the most popular option, once again featuring the Medium and Hard. The third scenario is a race run in mixed conditions, starting on a wet or damp track requiring intermediate tyres, prior to a switch to slicks. In this case, the drivers could try to extend the Intermediate stint as much as possible before switching to the Hard. The Soft could only come into play if the switch to slicks occurred in the closing stages. Whatever happens, it looks like being a fun afternoon!”

FORMULA 2

Joshua Durksen dominated the Sprint race, taking the lead at the start and keeping it all the way to the chequered flag. The AIX Racing driver did a great job of managing the two restarts, fending off reigning F3 champion, Leonardo Fornaroli (Invicta Racing) who was right on his gearbox for almost the entire race. The Italian also had to defend, in his case from Luke Browning (Hitech TGR) who rounded off the first podium of the season.

As for the tyres, all drivers ran the Medium, but its performance is hard to evaluate because of several neutralisations that interrupted proceedings. The drivers were therefore able to manage any overheating of the rear tyres and the laps spent behind the Safety Car allowed the tyres to recover some of their performance.

FORMULA 3

Santiago Ramos (Van Amersfoort Racing) secured his maiden win in the FIA Formula 3 championship in a race which featured several neutralisations. The Mexican managed to fend off Hitech TGR’s Norwegian driver, Martinius Stenshorne, all the way to the end. Rounding off the podium was Poland’s Roman Bilinski (Rodin Motorsport) making a brilliant debut in this category.

This race also saw the debut of the new generation of F3 car, fitted with 16” Pirelli tyres developed specifically for it. It was the first real opportunity for the young drivers to go head to head and try to make the most of this new package, with all the unknowns involved in this situation. The many Safety Cars made the task even trickier, but the race was certainly spectacular and exciting, with plenty of overtaking and close battles.

“Based on our experience from last year and with the information gathered during the development phase of the new compounds, we wanted to go in this direction, to give the teams and drivers a wider range of strategy options,” explained Pirelli’s Director of Motorsport, Mario Isola. “In 2024, 18 of the 20 drivers had started on the Medium, namely the C3 and an early neutralisation in the race pushed 14 of those to switch immediately to the C2, which was then the Hard, keeping it all the way to the end. With a softer trio, we believe this can lead to a situation where there could be a mix between one or two-stop strategies.”

This year, the Jeddah race takes place over the third weekend of April, whereas the previous four editions were held once in December, in its inaugural year, 2021 and the remaining three times in March. Suzuka and Sakhir are usually two of the toughest circuits on tyres, the former because of the lateral forces exerted on them through the many high speed corners on what is the only figure-of-eight circuit on the calendar and the latter because of the thermal degradation generated by the asphalt. It is therefore a logical choice to stick with the hardest three compounds in the range (C1 as Hard, C2 as Medium and C3 as Soft). With Melbourne (C3, C4, C5) and Shanghai (C2, C3 e C4) following the same pattern as in 2024, it means that only the brand-new C6 will not be called into play in this initial part of the season.