Austria: Pirelli expects a two-stop Grand Prix

After the first day of practice for the 2014 Austrian Grand Prix in Formula 1, Pirelli was able to get an initial idea of how the soft and super-soft tires would perform on the Red Bull Ring, and this should lead drivers to make two pit stops during the Grand Prix.

With over 6,000 kilometers covered, 4,610 on softs and 1,682 on super-softs, the Italian manufacturer collected interesting data for the rest of the weekend and the season. The longest stint on softs was 36 laps and on super-softs 28 laps. So with 71 laps to complete in Sunday’s race, and with higher weather conditions expected, Pirelli anticipates seeing two pit stops during the race.

According to the performance analysis results, it is highly likely that we will witness a race with two pit stops, but since no one has last year’s experience here, things may evolve. The only certainty: we expect much higher temperatures, with some risk of rain nonetheless, the Milan firm notes in its statement.

Pirelli also specified that the gap between the two compounds was smaller than usual given the characteristics of the Austrian circuit: « As we told you, the Red Bull Ring is a short and slow-speed track. This means that a reduced amount of energy passes through the tires during each lap. This means that the super-soft, which is about 0.6 seconds per lap faster, will be an interesting option in qualifying but also in the race. »

Paul Hembery, Pirelli’s competition director, congratulated himself on the tire choice made by the Italian firm, which seems to be the right one: « The track was very ‘green’ today. And despite that, the degradation of the soft tires remained very low. In terms of the race, it is very likely that we will find ourselves in the same situation, with enough degradation to make things interesting, but still two pit stops. Although the track is unknown to us, we opted for the same compounds as in Canada, which seems to be a good choice. Of course, we witnessed very different uses and wear of the rear tires. This will probably fall into place by tomorrow, once the collected information is analyzed. At Pirelli, we will do the same, in preparation for a qualifying session that should be very tight, given the short length of the lap. »

Sunday will be a first for Pirelli, which has never won an Austrian Grand Prix in Formula 1 before. Its best result so far was a 5th place achieved by Nigel Mansell driving his Lotus in 1983.