Pirelli chief engineer Simone Berra summarized Friday’s practice and qualifying for the Shanghai sprint, assessing the performance of all three slick and medium tire compounds.
Simone Berra: “A very interesting day for spectators and everyone who works in the sport. The weather continued to change throughout the day, allowing us to see four of the five lineups available to teams in action this weekend.
As for the slicks, initial analysis suggests that all three compounds could play a role in the weekend’s remaining sessions. Medium is of course suitable for tomorrow’s sprint and Sunday’s race. The Soft compound can also be a suitable option for the sprint, especially if the weather on Saturday morning is cooler than during today’s training. Logically, the Hard setup is more suitable for Sunday’s race.
Overall, track conditions changed very quickly throughout the day. Contrary to expectations, we did not see any granulation of the tires, while the slicks were subject to quite serious degradation, but it is too early to draw conclusions about possible strategies. In the sprint, teams can test the behavior of the tires over a long series of laps.
Due to the rain in the final we saw the intermediate tires in action, which performed well despite the unusual asphalt of the Shanghai circuit. The extra layer of bitumen applied in recent months has made the track even slipperier in the rain, testing the riders’ skills.
As a result, we saw a very spectacular qualification for the sprint. I think everyone enjoyed it, including the racers!
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.
