Pirelli’s findings could lead to new FIA decisions

Oscar Piastri won the sprint in Qatar, breaking Red Bull’s streak of victories in short races, and Max Verstappen finished second to secure the world title. Mario Isola, director of Pirelli Motorsport, extended his warm congratulations in his comments on Saturday’s results.

Mario Isola: “First of all we would like to congratulate Max Verstappen on his third world title, he has been very successful this season and has been truly dominant.

Pirelli had a particularly busy day today. After yesterday’s training, we noticed that after twenty laps, signs of microcuts appeared on the sidewalls of some tires, running from the surface to the cord frame. This was most likely caused by the repetitive stress of driving along the curb, especially in turns 12 and 13.

We immediately informed the FIA ​​and they took action by revising the track boundaries in these corners and organizing additional practice before qualifying for the sprint. This allowed the riders to find new lines on this part of the track.

Now, like every race weekend, we analyze the sets of tires that the teams have returned to us at the end of the day. Once this procedure has been completed we will communicate our findings to the FIA ​​and, if necessary, further action will be taken ahead of tomorrow’s Grand Prix.

When we talk about the behavior of the tires on the track, it became clear that the Medium compound rubber is best suited for long stretches, namely the sprint. The soft tires were more efficient at the start and three restarts, but suffered from granulation and thermal degradation in the long term.

This is a completely predictable phenomenon on the road, especially slippery due to the sand that the wind carries on the asphalt surface.

As for tomorrow, there is no point in guessing about the tactical formations as we will have to wait for the results of our analysis and see if they can lead to decisions from the FIA ​​on how the race will be held.”