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TYRE TALES:
HOW THE RACE WAS WON
* Mercedes sealed its first win of the year with a one-two led by Russell –
the winner of yesterday’s sprint race – who finished ahead of his team mate
Lewis Hamilton. Both drivers adopted an identical two-stop strategy: soft
tyres at the start, followed by a middle stint on medium and a final stint
on soft. Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz completed the podium with a
three-stopper, alternating between the medium and soft compounds. Sergio
Perez started fourth but was passed during the final laps by both Ferraris,
as well as Alpine’s Fernando Alonso and his Red Bull team mate Max
Verstappen, finishing the race in seventh on the medium tyres.
* Russell set fastest lap of the race on soft tyres: 1m13.785s. The soft was
used for a 34-lap stint by Alfa Romeo’s Guanyu Zhou, who switched from the
medium on lap 37.
BEST OF THE REST: THE ALTERNATIVE STRATEGY
The Brazilian Grand Prix was effectively split into two different starting
strategies. A total of 11 cars selected the soft tyre and eight used the
medium for the opening stint – with the only exception being Williams driver
Alex Albon, who put on the hard tyre from last on the grid. He then switched
to the medium after five laps during the first safety car. Most drivers ran
a two-stop strategy, with the majority finishing on the soft. Eight drivers
instead went for a three-stopper. As predicted yesterday, the hard tyre
wasn’t used extensively. The safety cars during the race didn’t lead to any
unexpected changes in strategy.
MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING
“A truly emotional race. It’s wonderful to see how Interlagos always puts on
a unique show for the fans. As expected, it was the variables that made the
difference today, with accidents, two safety cars, and temperatures dropping
by more than 10 degrees – which compelled drivers to adapt their driving
styles according to the compounds they were using, mixing up the cards for
every strategy. On top of the performance of all the different choices, it
was really interesting to see how the setup of each car influenced the
performance and degradation of the P Zero Red soft and P Zero Yellow medium
compounds. The soft allowed for stints of more than 25 laps with manageable
degradation, even with heavy cars at the start of the race, while the medium
seemed to perform better towards the end, owing to track evolution with more
rubber being gradually laid onto the surface. Congratulations to Mercedes
and especially to George Russell for his first grand prix win, made all the
more unforgettable thanks to this fantastic crowd here in Brazil.” |
