Simone Berra: There were no problems with the tires warming up

Before the start of the stage in Las Vegas, many feared that the teams would have difficulty warming up the tires in the night stage due to the low temperature of the track. However, after Friday’s practice, Pirelli chief engineer Simone Berra said fears were exaggerated.

Simone Berra: “The first day was definitely unusual – the first session was virtually non-existent and the second session was extended by 50% with permission to use all available tire sets to make up for the time lost in the first practice. As a result, we have been able to collect useful initial data that will be important in the following days, when the condition of the track starts to improve.

As expected, speeds increased with each completed lap, although riders were still some three to four seconds slower than the calculated values. Looking at the number of laps completed on the soft, medium and hard compounds, it seems that some teams saved the hardest compound for the race, while medium was used quite actively.

At the same time, the use of Soft tires cannot be completely excluded, taking into account the improvement of the condition of the track. However, it must be taken into account that most of the route is open to city traffic, which will inevitably lead to the disappearance of a layer of used rubber from the asphalt.

Going into Las Vegas, we prepared for two issues: tire heating and granulation. In terms of warming, we haven’t noticed anything dramatic or unprecedented today compared to what we’ve seen before. As for the degradation, it turned out to be significant, but still consistent with the indicators we had already seen on other tracks.

Additionally, we saw a trend for the grain to decrease as the cars completed more laps. In the race the situation could change, perhaps even significantly, creating opportunities that seemed unlikely today.”