MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT
“Once again a very closely contested qualifying, with all 20 drivers lapping within just over eight tenths of a second in Q1, while the top ten in Q2 were separated by less than three tenths. The final runs in Q3 were thrilling, ending with yet another demonstration of Max Verstappen’s amazing talent. His pole is also significant, as the lap is the fastest ever recorded in Formula 1.
In qualifying, we saw that the Soft was clearly the fastest compound. Those like the Mercedes duo who ran the Medium were also competitive, indeed Russell was quickest in Q1 on the C4, but that was more down to him feeling more comfortable with a tyre that, while offering less performance, gave the driver more confidence. The C5 is a very quick compound but it is not easy to find its peak performance, as was proved by the fact it could produce excellent times even after one or two cool-down laps, or on a second run. This means that once it stabilised, the Soft might give the driver more confidence to push.
“In terms of strategy, from the three hours of free practice it’s clear to see that this will be a race with only one pit stop. Medium and Hard should be the compounds doing most of the work, offering the best compromise between performance and durability and, between the two there’s not much difference in terms of degradation. Having said that, the Soft could find itself with an important role, especially for drivers able to lengthen the opening stint at least to lap 32, or on the other hand, if there’s a neutralisation towards the end of the race.”
