Russian GP: Pirelli Qualifying Review
By Courtesy of Pirelli
October 11 2015
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Pirelli
Qualifying Review Russian GP |
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Mercedes driver
Nico Rosberg has set pole for the Russian Grand Prix using the Pirelli P
Zero Red supersoft, which helped to eclipse last year’s pole (achieved on
soft tyres) already during the opening runs of Q2. This was despite the fact
that there was very little running during all three free practice sessions.
As a result, the teams had minimal information about tyre wear and
degradation heading into qualifying, leading to several question marks about
race strategy. The Sochi track is smooth and offers low grip, with any
rubber that had been previously laid down on the track washed away by rain
yesterday afternoon. Vettel and Nasr had not even run on the supersoft
before Q1.
Ambient and track conditions
remained cool all day, meaning that one of the biggest challenges was to get
enough heat into the tyres on the slippery surface. As the lap times showed,
most drivers managed to do this successfully.
Only the two Mercedes drivers managed to get through Q1 using the soft
compound only, setting first and third fastest times thanks to Rosberg and
Lewis Hamilton respectively. From Q2 onwards, all the drivers used the
supersoft tyres only, which are currently around 1.1 seconds per lap faster
than the soft compound. Mercedes were again the fastest team on the red
compound, maximising warm-up and performance.
Rosberg set his pole time on his final run in Q3 as the track got faster,
beating Hamilton – who will line up second on the grid ahead of Williams
driver Valtteri Bottas.
The final free practice session this morning was interrupted with 20 minutes
to go following an accident to Toro Rosso driver Carlos Sainz. Rosberg had
been fastest on the supersoft tyres at the time the session was stopped. The
resulting barrier repairs forced the cancellation of the GP3 race – which
again limited the amount of rubber that was on track prior to F1 qualifying.
Paul Hembery, Pirelli motorsport director: “The most important thing about
today was the fact that Carlos Sainz is OK after his incident this morning.
Everything else is of secondary importance. Clearly all the teams were on
the back foot heading into qualifying, as there was very little clean
practice time yesterday and today. As a result, there are big question marks
about the optimal race strategy – especially as we have never raced here
with the supersoft compound before.”
The Pirelli strategy predictor:
Because the teams did not complete many laps of dry running in free
practice, it is hard to have a precise indication of strategy for the 53-lap
race. However, many teams may choose a one-stop strategy owing to the low
wear and degradation levels at Sochi. In which case, the fastest strategy
would be to start on the supersoft and then switch to the soft between laps
18 and 22. However some teams wouldn’t discount a two stop strategy,
especially if race conditions turn out to be warmer”. |
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Fastest compounds in FP3:
1 Rosberg 1m38.561s Supersoft new
2 Bottas 1m39.287s Supersoft new
3 Hamilton 1m39.363s Supersoft new
Top 10 tyre use:
Rosberg 1m37.113s Supersoft new
Hamilton 1m37.433s Supersoft new
Bottas 1m37.912s Supersoft new
Vettel 1m37.965s Supersoft new
Raikkonen 1m38.348s Supersoft new
Hulkenberg 1m38.659s Supersoft used
Perez 1m38.691s Supersoft used
Grosjean 1m38.787s Supersoft new
Verstappen 1m38.924s Supersoft new
Ricciardo 1m39.728s Supersoft new
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