Mario Isola: The speeds on the track have increased noticeably

Pirelli drew attention to the fact that the teams were working with tyres very differently during the training sessions in Singapore than in Baku, although they did have tyres of three of the same compounds. While few people were driving on hard tyres on Friday last weekend, today everyone preferred to see how the C3 tyres behave on the Marina Bay circuit.

On the other hand, some teams, even during long runs of laps, tried not only hard and medium tyres, but also soft tyres.

Mario IsolaPirelli Motorsport Director: “The day can be described as normal. The two-hour practice session went without any problems, with all teams testing all three trains they had, including running different fuel loads.

Today, even on the Soft tyres, we have not seen any signs of granulation, which could allow them to be used on Sunday. In this context, it will be interesting to see how the teams plan their work in the third practice: some will decide to save a few sets of Medium tyres, while others will save a new set of Soft tyres for qualifying.

It turned out that the speeds on the track have increased noticeably compared to 2023, so much so that last year’s pole position was blocked. In addition to the inevitable increase in the efficiency of the cars during the modernization process, this could also be influenced by the fact that the race organizers tried to properly clean the track surface using high-pressure cleaners.

A well-prepared asphalt surface allows for higher speeds and lap times will continue to improve as the track is covered with a layer of waste rubber. It can be expected that in qualifying the lap times will be less than 1’29.200 – this was exactly the estimated pole time achieved by the teams in the simulators.

One of the unpredictable factors can be the weather, because in Singapore, located near the equator, the possibility of heavy rain can never be ruled out, which can cause the track to return to its original state and reduce grip again.”