|
The first day of
the Chinese Grand Prix was action-packed with plenty of surprises especially
in the final part of Sprint Qualifying. After a few drops of rain began to
fall towards the end of Q2, the final part was run on a completely wet track
with a very slippery surface. That produced eight spectacular and exciting
minutes, with off-track excursions, big corrections on the steering wheels,
great car control, all ending with a very unusual grid order. In fact, Lando
Norris will start the Sprint Race from pole in his McLaren, with the
Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton alongside him. The second row sees Fernando
Alonso (Aston Martin) with Max Verstappen (Red Bull) for company, while
Carlos Sainz ensured that the top five featured five different marques. Much
to the delight of the crowd, which had packed out the main grandstand at the
Shanghai International Circuit, China’s first ever Formula 1 driver, Guanyu
Zhou, made it to Q3 and will line up tenth on the grid.
THE DAY ON
TRACK
The one and only free practice session of the weekend saw a fairly even use
of all three dry compounds chosen by Pirelli for this event. The most used
was the C4 Soft, completing 169 of the total 453 laps (37.3%), followed by
the C2 Hard (158 laps, 34.9%) and the C3 Medium (126 laps, 27.8%). The first
two parts of Sprint Qualifying were run in the dry and, as per the
regulations, only the Medium could be used, while in the third, which the
FIA officially declared as wet, thus allowing a free choice of tyre, all ten
drivers opted for the Intermediate tyre. It’s worth noting that, as per the
Sporting Regulations, those who make it to Q3 can take a new set of
Intermediates after giving back a used one.
Lando Norris received the
Pirelli Sprint Qualifying Award from Qiu Xin, a lucky Chinese fan, chosen
through a competition run over the past few weeks on Weibo. Handmade in
Italy, the trophy consists of a square of FSC™certified natural rubber,
enclosed between two pieces of glass on which is etched the layout of the
Shanghai International Circuit and the FSC™ logo, a stylised tree. The same
rubber is part of the raw materials used in the manufacture of all the
Pirelli P Zero Formula 1 tyres, complying with the environmental and social
sustainability criteria defined by the forestry management non-governmental
organisation.
SIMONE BERRA – CHIEF ENGINEER
“It was a very interesting day for the spectators as well as for everyone
working in the sport. With the weather changing considerably over the course
of the day, we saw four of the five types of tyre available to the teams
this weekend coming into play. With regard to the slicks, an initial
analysis suggests that all three compounds could play their part over the
rest of the weekend. The Medium is clearly destined to be used in both
tomorrow morning’s Sprint Race and Sunday’s Grand Prix, with the Soft
possibly a valid option for the Sprint, especially if it is held in cooler
conditions than this morning’s free practice and logically, the Hard is more
likely to see use in Sunday’s race.
“In general, track conditions
changed very quickly over the course of the day. Contrary to expectations,
we did not see any graining today, while with the dry compounds we saw quite
significant degradation, but it is too early to have a clear idea regarding
strategies. The Sprint Race will be a great test session to check tyre
behaviour over a long stint.
“The rain in Q3 meant we were able to
see what the Intermediate could do in a very closely contested scenario and
it behaved pretty well despite the unusual Shanghai asphalt. In fact, the
additional layer of bitumen put down in recent months has rendered the track
even more slippery in wet conditions, putting the drivers’ skills to the
test. The result was a truly spectacular session which I think everyone
found entertaining, including the drivers themselves!” |
