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Pirelli’s C5
tyre – the softest of the five slick compounds available this year – will
make its debut at the Australian Grand Prix: round three of the 2024 season.
This has been nominated alongside the C4 (as used in Jeddah) and the C3,
which is seen at practically every race.
This is a softer selection
compared to last year, when the C2, C3, and C4 were chosen, but it’s not the
first time that the softest compound has been seen in Melbourne. Back in
2022, Pirelli brought the C5 to Albert Park as the soft nomination (when it
was paired with C3 as medium and C2 as hard, leaving out the C4).
The
decision to go with a softer selection was taken after analysing last year’s
race, which centred around the C2 with 10 drivers using it for 47 of the 58
laps, and three drivers running it for more than 50 laps. The 2023
Australian Grand Prix was characterised by numerous stoppages, including
three safety cars and three red flags, with two restarts from the grid and
one rolling restart.
The Albert Park track is made up of 14 corners,
having recently been redesigned to make it more flowing. It’s still tricky
to overtake on, although not as hard as it was in the past. Historically, a
one-stop strategy has been the favoured option, but the move to a softer
tyre nomination might change that – as well as creating situations where the
pace difference between the cars as a result of varying levels of tyre
performance helps overtaking.
The C5 remains unaltered from 2023, but
it's the compound that has up to now been used least on the current
generation of cars. It wasn’t nominated for either of the two opening races
this year, and just 140 kilometres were covered on the softest compound in
the 2024 range during the single pre-season test in Bahrain from 21-23
February. Lewis Hamilton was the only driver to complete a true long run
with it, while the Williams drivers mainly used it for a series of in and
out laps. Only two other teams, Ferrari and Stake F1, selected the C5 for
the Bahrain test: an abrasive track that is not particularly suited to the
softest compound. So it remains something of an unknown heading into this
weekend’s Australian Grand Prix.
The Albert Park weekend is a firm
favourite in the world of Formula 1, thanks to its stunning location and the
buzzy atmosphere of host city Melbourne. The track itself isn’t too hard on
tyres, with degradation being a bigger factor than wear. It’s now the
beginning of autumn at this time of year in Australia, and this can spring a
few weather-related surprises, with temperature swings and rain all having
made their mark on the race weekend in the past. There’s a packed programme
of support races from Thursday onwards: as well as Formula 2 and Formula 3,
there’s also the Porsche Carrera Cup and Australian Supercars championship,
which means there will be plenty of rubber laid onto the track to influence
grip levels.
Australia first joined the Formula 1 calendar in 1985,
with the 37th edition taking place this weekend. Up to 1995, the Adelaide
street circuit hosted the race before moving to Melbourne, which has been
the Australian Grand Prix’s home ever since (with the exception of 2020 and
2021, when the race didn’t run due to the Covid-19 pandemic).
The
most successful driver at the Australian Grand Prix is Michael Schumacher on
four wins: all of which took place in Melbourne with Ferrari. The Maranello
team’s 10 wins in Australia is beaten only by McLaren, on 11 victories.
McLaren also has the most poles in Australia (10) while the driver with the
most pole positions – eight – is Lewis Hamilton. In terms of podium
finishes, Ferrari and McLaren hold the joint record with 26, while Hamilton
is the driver who has been in the top three most times: 10. Red Bull has
only won in Melbourne twice: in 2011 with Sebastian Vettel and last year
with Max Verstappen. |
