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THE RACE FROM
A TYRE POINT OF VIEW
* Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won the Monaco Grand Prix with Aston Martin
driver Fernando Alonso in second. Esteban Ocon was third for Alpine. All the
drivers on the podium took the chequered flag on the Cinturato Green
intermediate. As was the case last year, all the compounds were used: three
different types slick and two wets, including the new Cinturato Blue full
wet.
* As usual in Monaco, qualifying was decisive for the race result, with the
top three on the grid finishing in the same order. Charles Leclerc had
originally qualified third, ahead of Ocon, but received a three-place grid
penalty.
* Verstappen and Ocon started on P Zero Yellow mediums with the intention of
switching to the P Zero White hard for the finish. But after the rain came,
Verstappen could move directly to the intermediate. Alonso also started on
the hard compound, but pitted for mediums which he ran for just one lap
before changing to intermediates.
* Half the teams split their strategies for the start: Mercedes, Alpine,
McLaren, Alfa Romeo, and Haas all fitted their two cars with different
compounds. The only driver to start on the P Zero Red soft was Guanyu Zhou
(Alfa Romeo), who stopped after just one lap to fit the hard tyres, as did
Nico Hulkenberg (Haas) and Sergio Perez (Red Bull).
* Rain started to fall about 25 laps before the end of the race, initially
between turns 4 and 8. Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) was first to fit the
intermediate and Kevin Magnussen (Haas) was last to visit the pits for rain
tyres, swapping the hards for the full wet.
* The new Cinturato Blue Full Wet tyre, which had been due to make its debut
at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, was used by the two Haas drivers and
Perez. It is the first Pirelli Formula 1 tyre that does not require the use
of tyre warmers.
* Bottas had the fastest time on the intermediates, setting a 1m24.637s on
lap 76. Hulkenberg set the best time with the full wet tyres of 1m32.994s on
lap 72. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) did the overall fastest lap of the race
(1m15.650s) on lap 33 when he was on the hard tyres while the best
performance on mediums came from Leclerc (1m15.773s) on lap 46. Magnussen
had the longest stint, using the hard for 56 laps.
* The rain caused the asphalt temperatures to drop sharply from 41°C to 27°C
while the ambient temperature fluctuated between 28 and 23°C.
MARIO ISOLA - MOTORSPORT DIRECTOR
“The Monaco
weekend was filled with emotions, both for the people watching the race in
person and those following it at home on TV and online. Just like a year
ago, all five types of tyre brought to Monaco were used, with the new
specification of wet tyre – which doesn’t require blankets – making its
debut. First impressions of its performance seem in line with expectations,
although you obviously can’t really compare Monaco with anywhere else. When
it was dry, the race was a chess game between those who started on the
mediums and those who opted for the hards: actually, a bigger number of
drivers than we had anticipated heading into the race. Just one person,
Guanyu Zhou, went for the softs at the start. As is often the case in
Monaco, it was at first a question of seeing who made the best of the
traffic to find the right time to make the decisive move and pit. But then
there was the uncertain weather, with the rain that everybody knew was
coming but nobody expected to be quite so heavy. All this added up to a race
that was extremely difficult to manage without making mistakes. The first
stint on the medium was much longer than expected: not only did Verstappen
complete 55 laps on this compound, but both AlphaTauri drivers did 53 laps,
while Lando Norris did 50. On this track in particular, tyre management,
even with graining, had to be carried out according to traffic and weather
conditions – as was definitely the case today.”
WHAT'S NEXT?
Next week Formula 1 will travel to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for
the Spanish Grand Prix (2-4 June). The P Zero White hard will be the C1
tyre, the P Zero Yellow medium the C2, and the P Zero Red soft the C3. The
circuit has been modified for this year with the removal of the final
chicane, making it more fast and flowing. |
