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Singapore GP: Pirelli Qualifying Review

By Courtesy of Pirelli
September 17 2017

 
 Pirelli Singapore GP Qualifying Review
 
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Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel claimed pole position under the lights of Singapore on the P Zero Purple ultrasoft tyre, which was used by all the drivers from start to finish of qualifying.

Vettel’s time of 1m39.491s – 3.1 seconds faster than last year’s pole – is the quickest lap ever seen at the Marina Bay circuit, with the 2016 pole time already beaten in Q1. Track temperature was around 34 degrees centigrade during qualifying.

There was high track evolution during Q1 in particular; also because of some oil dropped from a previous support race. Tyre wear and degradation as measured during FP2 yesterday remained quite low even on the ultrasoft tyre, opening up the possibility of a one-stop strategy tomorrow even if tyre degradation should increase.

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF CAR RACING
“The track got progressively faster quite quickly, once the oil on the track had cleared. This allowed an incredibly fast and closely-fought qualifying session, with plenty of drivers beating the previous all-time record at Singapore. On a circuit which favours the mechanical grip like this one, the wider 2017 tyres offered an important contribution to this result. As tyre wear and degradation is low on all three compounds, one-stop should be the favoured strategy; however, with a 100% safety car record in Singapore and unpredictable track conditions, teams will need to remain versatile and adapt their strategies to the circumstances of the race.”

HOW THE TYRES BEHAVED TODAY
ULTRA SOFT Used in qualifying and FP3 today: around a second faster than supersoft.
SUPER SOFT Only used for some installation laps in FP3 today, important tomorrow.
SOFT Could become a key ingredient of a one-stopper tomorrow

 
FREE PRACTICE 3 – TOP 3 TIMES
DRIVER 		TIME 	   COMPOUND 
Verstappen 	1m 41.829s ULTRASOFT NEW
Vettel		1m 41.901s ULTRASOFT NEW
Hamilton 	1m 41.971s ULTRASOFT NEW

QUALIFYING TOP 10
DRIVER 		TIME 	   COMPOUND
Vettel 		1m 39.491s ULTRASOFT NEW
Verstappen	1m 39.814s ULTRASOFT NEW
Ricciardo 	1m 39.840s ULTRASOFT NEW
Raikkonen	1m 40.069s ULTRASOFT NEW
Hamilton 	1m 40.126s ULTRASOFT NEW
Bottas		1m 40.810s ULTRASOFT NEW
Hulkenberg 	1m 41.013s ULTRASOFT NEW
Alonso		1m 41.179s ULTRASOFT NEW
Vandoorne 	1m 41.398s ULTRASOFT NEW
Sainz		1m 42.056s ULTRASOFT NEW

MOST LAPS BY COMPOUND SO FAR
COMPOUND 	DRIVER 			    LAPS 
SOFT 		Vettel  		    23
SUPERSOFT	Grosjean, Perez, Verstappen 23 
ULTRASOFT 	Ricciardo 		    26

BEST TIME BY COMPOUND SO FAR
COMPOUND 	DRIVER 	 	TIME 
SOFT 		Hamilton 	1m 42.505s
SUPERSOFT	Verstappen	1m 42.077s
ULTRASOFT 	Vettel 		1m 39.491s
 
 

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