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TYRES ON THE
TRACK
* For the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, C2 is the P Zero White hard, C3 is the P
Zero Yellow medium, and C4 is the P Zero Red soft.
* Jeddah is the fastest street circuit of the year. The track was designed
three years ago and has been continually improved since then. This year,
there are some new rumble strips on the escape roads while some of the kerbs
have been smoothed. A number of the walls have been repositioned, such as
those at Turns 8 and 10 (to improve visibility on entry) and Turn 23 (to
slow the corner down).
* Car setup will be very different to Bahrain. For Jeddah, it's important to
have good stability throughout the fast corners that characterise the track.
* The circuit offers a medium level of grip but the sand blown onto the
surface can influence this on the low-abrasion asphalt. The track, which
overlooks the Red Sea, is not especially demanding in terms of traction and
braking, with lateral forces predominantly affecting the tyres.
* As was the case in Bahrain, this will be another night race – but the
start takes place two hours later, at 20:00. This is the same time that
qualifying and FP2 is also run. Temperatures are expected to remain largely
consistent throughout each of these sessions as well as the race. The other
free practice sessions are scheduled for late afternoon, in asphalt
temperatures that can easily be 10 degrees hotter. |
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MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF CAR
RACING
“For the rapid Jeddah track, we have confirmed the same compound choices as
last year as they showed very good consistency throughout the race weekend.
In the two races held up to now, the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix has been quite
unpredictable because of the frequent safety cars and neutralisations, being
a typical street circuit. A one-stopper was the fastest option in 2022, when
a safety car led to an early pit stop for most of the drivers, who went on
to finish the race on the hard tyre. Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc
fought hard on this strategy thanks also to the durability of the tyres,
with the Red Bull driver winning by less than a second at the end of a great
race. The teams will also have to work hard on car setup because they will
only have free practice to fine-tune the balance on this track with the
latest tyres. The first race in Bahrain was all about traction and braking
but Jeddah instead focuses on lateral forces, with completely different
characteristics to Sakhir.”
OTHER PIRELLI NEWS
WRC
Rally Mexico, the third round of this year’s Pirelli-equipped World Rally
Championship, takes place during the same weekend as the Saudi Arabian Grand
Prix. Pirelli’s Scorpion rally tyres will make their season debut in Mexico
at the first gravel round of the championship.
ERC
In the opening round of the European Rally Championship with the Serras de
Fafe Rally, Pirelli made it a trio by winning in all categories, bringing
Hayden Paddon and his navigator John Kennard to the top of the overall
podium with a Hyundai i20 N Rally2. The former Pirelli Star Driver clinched
victory on the all-gravel event last weekend, recording his debut ERC win.
Pirelli drivers also triumphed in the RC3 and RC4 categories, with Jon
Armstrong (Ford Fiesta) and Roberto Daprà (Peugeot 208). All the Pirelli
crews used tyres from the Scorpion range for gravel on the three different
rally cars.
Intercontinental GT Challenge
It was a BMW one-two at the recent Kyalami 9 Hours, round two of the
Intercontinental GT Challenge Powered by Pirelli. The winning margin was
just 1.7 seconds after a full day of racing at the South African track,
which last hosted Formula 1 in 1993 as the season-opener. |
