After the end of Friday’s program, Pirelli tire workers summarized the results of the day, which ended with heavy rain and hurricane winds hitting Interlagos. However, the participants in the qualifying final each managed one attempt before the elements kicked in, meaning there was no need to switch to wet tyres.
Simone Berrachief engineer of Pirelli Motorsport: “Friday during the sprint weekend is always very hectic, because the teams only get one hour to prepare for the remaining sessions, and during this time they have to try to determine the exact settings and at the same time analyze the performance of the tires of all three compounds.
But most importantly, this weekend format means teams are trying to use the available tire sets in a different way than usual, in an effort to find the most effective approach.
It is clear that we and the teams have collected a lot of information at Interlagos over the last few years, and this will all be useful in making further decisions, as only a very limited amount of data was collected in one training session.
From what we’ve seen, the C2 is unlikely to be the compound of choice for the race as it suffers from severe degradation, exacerbated by low grip levels that cause cars to slide around the track.
Between practice and qualifying the weather deteriorated, temperatures dropped sharply, wind intensity increased and the threat of rain became increasingly apparent. In the end, everything ended in a real hurricane, which meant that qualifying had to be completed earlier than planned.
All this made life difficult for the riders, as they had to adapt to rapidly changing conditions, and as the direction and strength of the wind also changed, this added to the difficulties. But the weather forecast for Saturday is more favorable, there is no rain allowed.
“Last year, when the sprint was held at this circuit, 18 out of 20 riders preferred soft tires. It is likely that we will see a similar picture tomorrow, as temperatures during practice will be slightly lower than this morning. “
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.
