Pirelli have confirmed that they will investigate the tyre failures thst a number of teams suffered over the course of the Qatar Grand Prix weekend.
Mercedes AMG PETRONAS F1 Team’s Lewis Hamilton used a two-stop strategy to claim victory ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen while Fernando Alonso scored a podium finish, his first since his return to Formula One.
speaking following the action on Sunday, MARIO ISOLA – HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING said:
With Losail being a new and relatively unknown track, featuring some high energy corners, the teams headed into the race lacking all the information they would ideally want, with only one representative practice session. However, it became clear during the race that a one-stopper was very marginal in terms of tyre wear, requiring a high degree of management. Some drivers encountered tyre problems towards the finish: this was probably due to a combination of very high wear as a result of long stints, and impacts at high speed against some aggressive kerbs, but we’ll obviously find out specifically what happened with a full laboratory analysis back at base in Milan. By contrast, Hamilton and Verstappen were able to push to the limit with the strategy that they had selected, finishing more than half a minute ahead of Alonso in third, who made a one-stopper work for him
Mario Isola
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