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THE RACE TYRE
STORY
* Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc converted his pole position into a win,
using the one-stop strategy that was predicted as being fastest. He started
the race on P Zero Yellow medium tyres and then swapped to the P Zero White
hard on lap 22: completing a first stint that was four laps longer than that
of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who started behind him on the grid.
* One lap after Leclerc pitted, there was another safety car: this enabled
the majority of the field to complete their stops with comparatively little
time loss. All but six of the drivers started the race on the medium tyre,
with the highest-placed of them being Williams driver Alex Albon. He
finished 10th and scored a point, having started from last on the grid with
the hard tyre and made his pit stop to P Zero Red soft on the penultimate
lap.
* Another unusual strategy was seen from Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll: he
made three stops in total and re-used the hard tyres he had started the race
on for his final stint. That set had only completed three laps before the
first safety car, under which Stroll pitted for the medium before moving to
the hard just one lap later. By doing this he put himself in a position to
run to the end, but he swapped to his scrubbed set of starting tyres when
the second safety car presented the opportunity for a ‘free’ pit stop.
* Today was hotter and less windy than previous days in Melbourne, with the
race getting underway in 27 degrees centigrade ambient and 38 degrees of
track temperature.
HOW THE COMPOUNDS MADE THE DIFFERENCE
HARD C1: The key tyre for this race, which enabled the drivers to push hard
with very little graining or degradation. Used by the majority of drivers
for the second and final stint, including the winner Leclerc – who also set
fastest lap with the hards on his final tour. Albon underlined the endurance
of this compound by completing 57 laps on it.
MEDIUM C2: The favoured starting tyre, which provided a good balance between
speed and durability. Haas driver Kevin Magnussen and Alpine’s Fernando
Alonso were the only drivers to use it for their final stints. There was
some graining (and therefore degradation) on this tyre as expected.
SOFT C3: With its speed making it the ideal qualifying rather than race
tyre, the soft completed only one racing lap right at the end, with Albon.
MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING
“The tyres performed in line with the expectations we had established from
Friday’s free practice sessions, despite the much higher temperatures on
race day and expected track evolution. Nearly all the drivers made just one
pit stop, with many of them taking advantage of safety cars to minimise the
time loss. The different characteristics of the medium and hard tyres, with
deliberately higher degradation on the medium, also presented the drivers
with a wide pit stop window. This allowed them to maximise strategic
opportunities today. The modified track layout here in Melbourne helped to
underline how the new car and tyre package for 2022 permits drivers to
attack and overtake, with a high number of passing manoeuvres. We also saw
some ingenious pit strategies, such as two consecutive pit stops from Lance
Stroll to cycle through the medium tyre, and a very long hard stint from
Alex Albon that enabled him to get from last on the grid into the points.” |
