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THE RACE FROM
A TYRE POINT OF VIEW
* Red Bull sealed its second one-two of the season in Jeddah, with Sergio
Perez winning the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix ahead of his team mate Max
Verstappen. Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso followed the Dutchman over the
line but dropped to fourth after a 10-second penalty, promoting Mercedes
driver George Russell onto the podium. All four used P Zero White hard C2
tyres for their final stints.
* The night race took place with asphalt temperatures between 29 and 31°C,
while ambient temperature remained consistent at 26°C: lower values than
those previously seen in FP2 and qualifying.
* The three podium finishers used identical strategies, making their pit
stops on the same lap. Perez, Verstappen, and Russell all swapped from their
P Zero Yellow medium C3 starting tyres to the hard tyre on lap 18, under the
safety car.
* Only four drivers, all from different teams, chose to start on a tyre
other than the medium. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and McLaren’s Lando Norris
both selected the P Zero Red soft C4, while Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton
and Logan Sargeant (Williams) went for the hard.
* Max Verstappen set the fastest lap on the hard tyre (1m31.906s) while
Lewis Hamilton was the driver who covered most laps on the medium: 32.
Hamilton also set the fastest lap for the medium compound, 1m32.941s. Alfa
Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas established the quickest benchmark for the soft
compound, which was a 1m34.384s.
* No fewer than seven drivers set their best lap times of the race on the
final lap, with the hard tyre. These included Verstappen – who also set the
overall fastest lap, giving himself the extra point that allowed him to stay
in the lead of the championship – as well as Alonso and Russell, fighting
hard for the final podium place.
BEST OF THE REST: THE ALTERNATIVE STRATEGY
Most team strategies were quite similar. A total of 16 drivers started the
race on the medium, as predicted by Pirelli’s simulations. Of those, only
the two Alfa Romeo drivers didn’t finish the race on the hard. Bottas did
three pit stops, going onto the hard and then the mediums again on lap 17,
before fitting the soft 15 laps from the end. Guanyu Zhou stopped before the
others and then stopped again during the safety car period to go from hard
to medium.
Hamilton and Sargeant finished the race on mediums as they were the only
drivers to start on hards. Leclerc and Norris chose a different strategy,
beginning the race on the soft and ending it on the hard. Norris was forced
to stop just two laps into the race and then went onto the mediums under the
safety car, keeping them on until the flag.
MARIO ISOLA - MOTORSPORT DIRECTOR
“Most team strategies were quite similar. A total of 16 drivers started the
race on the medium, as predicted by Pirelli’s simulations. Of those, only
the two Alfa Romeo drivers didn’t finish the race on the hard. Bottas did
three pit stops, going onto the hard and then the mediums again on lap 17,
before fitting the soft 15 laps from the end. Guanyu Zhou stopped before the
others and then stopped again during the safety car period to go from hard
to medium.
Hamilton and
Sargeant finished the race on mediums as they were the only drivers to start
on hards. Leclerc and Norris chose a different strategy, beginning the race
on the soft and ending it on the hard. Norris was forced to stop just two
laps into the race and then went onto the mediums under the safety car,
keeping them on until the flag.”
WHAT'S NEXT?
The next race will the Australian Grand Prix from March 31 to April 2. The
race will start at 08:00 in Europe, which is 15:00 local time in Melbourne.
The compounds nominated for Albert Park are the same as those seen in Saudi
Arabia: C2 as P Zero White hard, C3 as P Zero Yellow medium and C4 as P Zero
Red soft. Formula 2 will run in Melbourne, as well as Formula 3 for the
first time: both championships exclusively equipped by Pirelli. |
