It was a fun-filled Saturday. It took place on the Hungaroring track the new qualification format which, although it may have been only the first of the two tests made available for Pirelliviewers seem to have liked it a lot. Lots of entertainment and unpredictability, with the pole position which was conquered by Lewis Hamilton. The Englishman rises to 104 and will start - in the race scheduled at 15.00 pm - ahead of Max Verstappen and Lando Norris.
Pirelli, the new format does not convince the riders
Il new format However, it seems to continue to divide the paddock quite a bit. Based on the statements made by the pilots - on all those of Alonso – it seems that the choice of having to go “at savings" on Friday almost none of the twenty drivers on the grid like it. If on the one hand, in fact, the Saturday show was incredible, on the other hand we witnessed a Friday in which many drivers preferred to carry out the free session only with one set of tires.
Isola comments on the new format: “It creates many challenges for the pilots”
The head of Pirelli's motorsport area Mario Isola took stock of the situation and, when asked about the considerations of the new format, stated: “I think it was a very interesting qualification. Il new format that posed different challenges to the drivers and created even more balance and uncertainty than previous races. It is no coincidence that seven different teams are represented in the top ten and the top ten are within six tenths of a second. The drivers had to adapt to the transition between one compound and another in the three phases of qualifying. It's something they were no longer used to doing since the obligation to use the same set of tires used to pass the cut in Q2 at the start was removed."
On strategies: "It's difficult to think about using soft"
One thing seems to be certain: with this format, the unpredictability has increased. Just consider that for today's race Norris will have a new medium tyre. Who knows, he might be an extra weapon to try to worry the two world champions who start in front of him. On the side strategyAccording to Pirelli, however, there should not be major changes compared to the forecasts. The solution two stops, with the use of medium and hard, it should be the winning one.
Mario himself confirms this Island: “The long runs in FP3 highlighted that, with asphalt temperatures around 50°C, the C5 does not appear to be the ideal tire for the race. At the same time, the higher temperatures compared to yesterday and the normal evolution of the track they tip the balance more in favor of the two harder compounds, C3 and C4. Therefore, from a strategic point of view, the most probable one involves two stops. Pstart with the C4 (Medium) and then a double stint on the C3 (Hard). Single stopping (Hard/Medium) is possible but very limited, both in terms of performance degradation and tread life. Certainly, given the composition of the starting grid, it will be a spectacular race."
SOURCE: Pirelli F1 Medium
