Izola: The riders could attack, there was no need to take care of the tires

Pirelli’s tire workers summarize the results of the weekend in Qatar, which ended with Max Verstappen’s victory – this is the four-time world champion’s ninth achievement of the 2024 season.

All race participants started on Medium tyres, with the exception of Nico Hulkenberg, who preferred hard tyres. All teams found the one pit stop tactic optimal, with most drivers trying to stretch the first segment as much as possible to drive more than half the distance to the pit stop.

But there were exceptions: George Russell (Mercedes) pitted after 23 laps, Valtteri Bottas (Sauber) switched to a set of hard tires on the 24th lap, Kevin Magnussen (Haas) on the 27th. For the rest, a wave of pit stops began on lap 34, with some entering the pit lane as the race was neutralized by the appearance of the safety car.

He went on the track three times. In the last two cases, as the time loss during the pit stop was a little less, the Williams and RB teams decided to take a risk and switch to soft tyres, but this did not give the desired effect, as the C3 tires were on the The Losail circuit lost its effectiveness too quickly.

Mario IsolaDirector of Pirelli Motorsport: “As expected, we had a lot of work this weekend. There were two punctures during today’s race: Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes. Now we need to analyze in detail the nature of the damage suffered by these tires, and also check the condition of some other tires.

In addition to telemetry, we receive video recordings from cameras on board the teams, and we send all this to our laboratory in Milan. In addition, as usual, we check the loads to which the rubber is exposed.

This track has very unusual features: the load on the tires is very high, which causes mechanical wear on the treadmill, but this does not lead to a decrease in speed. Naturally, this combination of factors can create a situation where wear and tear reaches extreme levels.

However, the teams tried to extend the first period as much as possible to achieve the best possible result, and today events developed exactly like this.

On the Qatar track, the heaviest loads fall on the left front tire, and it is no coincidence that in both cases these wheels punctured. When tire wear reaches a certain level, even the smallest piece of dirt on the track can lead to situations similar to what we saw today.

Otherwise, Hard and Medium tires are quite comparable in efficiency and, as noted above, virtually not subject to degradation. Therefore, there was practically no need to save tires; the drivers could attack as they wanted, despite the single pit stop tactic.”