Pirelli P Zero C3 Red Soft and C2 Yellow Medium tyres delivered quantifiable performance on track at Formula One Barcelona Grand Prix at the weekend. With all drivers opting to start the race on Red Soft C3’s- with exception of Lewis Hamilton- a 3 stop strategy for top 3 podiums of Max Vertsappen (Red Bull Racing), Sergio Perez (Red Bull Racing) and Mercedes driver George Russell tested C3 and C2 compounds performance on track temperatures which peaked at 48 degrees.
Data collected and analyzed from Free Practice 1 and 2 on Friday confirmed gap between C1 Hard and C2 Medium at 1.2 seconds followed by slighter smaller window of performance of 1.1 seconds between C2 Medium and C3 Soft tyres. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) set fastest lap time in FP1, FP2 and FP3 following up with pole in Qualifying- all on C3 Soft tyres.
With relatively high levels of wear and degradation at the Barcelona circuit, Leclerc’s strategy for only one run in Q1 and Q2 to save a set of C3 Soft’s for the race played out with Mercedes adopting same decision consolidating Mercedes grid position of P4 and P6 for Sunday’s race.
Apart from Hamilton who opted to start on C2 Medium’s before pitting and switching to C3 Softs in Lap 1 from incident on track, tyre management of C3 Soft’s for early run proved the fastest lap option for 19 drivers.
The switch to C2 Mediums was made on Laps 13, 17, 13, 10 and 22 by top 5 finishers: Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez, George Russell, Carlos Sainz, and Lewis Hamilton, with all but Verstappen staying on Mediums until final change to C3 Soft’s to end of 66 lap race. Charles Leclerc pitted on Lap 21 switching to C2 Yellow before engine failure and retirement in Lap 27.
Fastest lap times were set on C3 Red Softs with Sergio Perez clocking 1.24.108 in Lap 55, Lewis Hamilton 2nd on 1.24.253 in Lap 51 followed by team-driver George Russell on 1.24.636 in Lap 53. In contrast to 2021 F1 Barcelona GP where fastest Lap times for top 18 drivers were under 1.24.040 albeit on cooler track conditions, the new era of Formula racing has not only altered race results but also tyre performance on track.
Formula One Grand Prix of Monaco May 27-29. Header Photo: F1 Barcelona GP Image: Pirelli
Words: Sharon Cox.
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