Pirelli’s usual caution with the selection of compounds for each Grand Prix has vanished this time at Istanbul Park, as the unexpected improvement in asphalt grip has changed the situation.
When the managers of Istanbul Park decided to apply an exhaustive wash of the asphalt of the circuit weeks ago, Pirelli had already decided the compounds for a Grand Prix of Turkey that in 2020 stood out for the poor condition of the track.
A recent asphalt had left the surface very slippery as a result of the bitumen and if it had not been rolled on it previously, which turned the circuit into a skating rink.
Looking ahead to this season, the track has undergone such improvement that in the first minutes of free practice on Friday the record for lap time from the previous year was broken.
“When we selected the tires we were not aware of this treatment they planned”
But this has posed a problem for Pirelli, which did not have such an improvement and has brought softer tires to compensate for the problems of 2020, when the compounds C1, C2 and C3 (the hardest) were used.
“I think soft is a pretty aggressive option. Consider that when we selected the tires we were not aware of this treatment they were planning for the surface. So, looking at the data from last year, we decided to select softer compounds, ”explains Mario Isola.
“Soft is a pretty aggressive option. And I think some teams used the soft today (Friday) just to get rid of them and focus on the middle and the hard for the race, if they want to plan a one-stop strategy.
Classify with the medium
As a result, it is very likely that quite a few drivers will choose to complete Q2 on the medium compound, thus ensuring that they start Sunday’s race with a tire that will keep the one-stop option open.
“The delta lap time between soft and medium is very small. It’s not like a second, where you take a big risk by trying to get through to Q3 with a medium instead of the soft. With this small difference, probably more cars will try to classify with the medium compound », anticipates the technical manager of Pirelli.
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“The level of grip increased a lot. This is probably due to the fact that we do not have bitumen on top, let’s say the stones are visible and generate more grip compared to last year. The increase in grip is clear, because the lap times are four to five seconds faster than last year..
«We were expecting some graining and it’s visible on all three compounds, especially the softer one and the front right. The graining on the inner shoulder is accelerating wear. That is why it will be very important for each team to measure and analyze the data from FP2 to understand what the useful life of the tires is, because it is information that we do not have from last year ”, concludes the Italian engineer.