Formula One Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola tested Pirelli’s 18 inch tyres performance amid variable elements of wet weather, the season’s first Sprint race on Saturday ahead of the main Race on Sunday. Selection of slicks: C2 Hard, C3 Medium and C4 Soft were combined with wets: Cinturato Green Intermediates and Cinturato Blue to make tyre selection key from FP1 on Friday through to final lap of race on Sunday.
Adding to the mix of what tyres to run, and when to switch was the limited track time ahead of Qualifying on Friday afternoon which was plagued with wet-to-dried track, and numerous red flags – total of 5 from Q1 through to Q3.
With Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz taking top 2 lap times in Practice 1 on Green Intermediates: 1.29.402 and 1.30.279 respectively, 3rd spot set by Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing) showed how versatile the reigning F1 Champion is, by setting best time on both C4 and Intermediate compounds of: 1.18.793 and 1.25.515 respectively.
Whether Q1 was more roll the dice affair or dictated by circumstances on track- undoubtedly driver’s who executed best lap time in Lap 1 or next were the beneficial receivers of moving to Q2, as opposed to those whose tyre operating window was slower to come together.
All top 10 driver’s in Qualifying for Sprint Race ran Green Intermediates with pole-sitter Max Verstappen setting 1.29.999 ahead of Charles Leclerc on 1.28.778 and Lando Norris (McLaren) on 1.29.131. Practice 2 on Saturday gave opportunity to test slicks, with best times set by George Russell on C4 Soft, Sergio Perez on C3 Medium and Charles Leclerc on C4 Soft coming in at: 1.19.457, 1.19.538 and 1.19.538 for top 3.
The 21 lap Sprint Race proved fertile ground for pole-sitter Max Verstappen to consolidate his Qualifying performance taking the win ahead of Leclerc with Sergio Perez taking 3rd – all running on C4 Soft’s. While there was minimal change from grid position to final result, Perez along with Carlos Sainz (Red Bull Racing) made most of passing opportunities moving from 7th to 3rd and 10th to 4th respectively- which gave Red Bull Racing 1 and 3 and Ferrari 2 and 4 on the starting grid for Sunday’s Race.
All driver’s started Sunday’s race on Green Intermediates with early rain on track, and all switched to C3 Medium’s from lap 17-19 to end of race – with only Leclerc, Perez and Verstappen switching to C4 Softs for final 12 laps. With C3 Mediums showing high consistency of performance over total of 43 laps- most laps across 4 Rounds- Race winner Verstappen posted fastest lap on C4 Soft’s of 1.18.446 on lap 55.
In Formula One Emilia Romagna Grand Prix 5 compounds of Pirelli tyres were used in response to the variable elements incurred over the 3 day Grand Prix. Green Intermediates were run by all driver’s in Practice 1 and Qualifying with C4 Soft’s the dominant selection for Saturday’s Sprint Race. Intermediate’s were again the preferred choice by all driver’s at the start of Sunday’s Race, with switch to C3 Mediums when dry lines emerged – only 3 protagonists of Leclerc, Perez and then Verstappen swapping to C4 Soft tyres for last 12 laps.
Header photo: Formula One Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Saturday Image: Pirelli
Words: Sharon Cox.
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