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Red Bull driver
Sebastian Vettel claimed his 37th career pole position at the Australian
Grand Prix using the P Zero Red supersoft, after an unusual qualifying that
was split between Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning.
Q1 took place on Saturday as usual with Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg going
fastest on the Cinturato Green intermediate in the early stages. As the rain
fell harder, Q2 and Q3 were postponed after multiple delays, with darkness
drawing in and more rain expected.
All 16 eligible drivers started the second session at 11am on Sunday using
the Cinturato Green intermediate tyre, with track temperatures of 13 degrees
centigrade and ambient temperatures of 15 degrees. With five minutes to go,
McLaren driver Sergio Perez was the first to move onto the Red supersofts.
However, the track was still not ready for slicks, with Rosberg again going
fastest in Q2 on the Green intermediates and the slick tyre runners
eliminated.
The final qualifying session also started on intermediate tyres, with
McLaren’s Jenson Button the first driver to go out on slicks. But with the
track drying all the time, pole position was set in the closing seconds –
with Vettel actually crossing the line for his lap with just one second to
go. The final free practice session on Saturday morning was also characterised
by wet weather, with Lotus driver Romain Grosjean going quickest.
Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery said: “The pressure was on
everybody with Q2 and Q3 postponed until this morning, but safety always
comes first. With the risk of drivers aquaplaning on standing water, or
losing control over the many slippery painted white lines that are a
particular feature of this street circuit, it was the right decision.
Judging the crossover point proved to be the key to qualifying today. The
rapid warm-up and peak performance of our supersoft tyres enabled the
leading drivers to push with confidence during Q3 even when the track was
not totally dry. With not so much information to go on from qualifying, it
will be interesting to see how the different race strategies pan out. Due to
the low temperatures we experienced some graining on the supersoft, but it
was still the most effective tyre for the conditions in qualifying.”
The Pirelli mystery strategy predictor:
The strategy, as usual, will depend on the weather and the speed of each
car. If it rains, then the strategy is much harder to predict - and the
teams will just have to rely on any opportunities that come their way.
Likely winning strategies are as follows:
* The fastest strategy looks likely to be a two-stopper: Start on the
Supersoft / 1st stop: change to Medium on lap 14 / 2nd stop: change to
Medium on lap 36.
* The second fastest strategy is a three-stopper with a start on the
Supersoft / 1st stop: change to Medium on lap 8 / 2nd stop: change to Medium
on lap 23 / 3rd stop: change to Medium on lap 40. |
