The head of the Pirelli racing division, Mario Isola, summarized the results of the race in Baku, which was won by Red Bull Racing driver Sergio Perez.
Mario Isola: “The race was exciting from start to finish. As we expected, almost all riders opted for the Medium compound for the first stint. Two drivers from the pit lane, Esteban Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg, and Nick de Vries started on the Hard. They decided to do the first long stint and then switch to Soft hoping for a safety car in the closing laps.
This weekend the teams collected little information, mainly obtained in the sprint, on the performance of tires on a long series of circles. As a result, there were more unknowns than usual before the race.
We are pleased that the Hard tires not only showed a good level of reliability and could endure 300 kilometers, but also allowed the riders to attack as hard as they wanted. Proof of this was the spectacular exchange of fast laps between the top four riders from different teams, which only underlines the versatility of this line-up.
Remarkable fact: Max Verstappen’s best time in the top four (1:44.232) was 1.8 seconds faster than the best lap time of the race last year.
Everyone had more information on the Medium tires compared to the Hard tires. The performance of this formulation was as expected and less detailed. That was probably due to the extra grip that the new asphalt offered.”
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
