Mario Isola felt the behaviour of all three dry weather tyre compounds brought to the Australian Grand Prix worked well throughout the race, even if the majority of the drivers were able to get through all fifty-eight laps on just one stop.
Two drivers – Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport and Stoffel Vandoorne from the McLaren F1 Team – were even able to do the race without using the hardest compound, a tactic the Haas F1 Team were also attempting before their pit stop woes.
Pirelli had hoped for a variety of pit stop strategies due to making their compounds a step softer in 2018 then they were last year, with desires of making Grand Prix two stop events, but despite this not happening in the opening round of the season, Isola, Pirelli Motorsport’s head of car racing, was pleased with how the race unfolded.
“There were effectively two halves to this grand prix, before and after the safety car, which helped to decide the outcome thanks to a clever pit strategy from Ferrari,” said Isola. “In the end, we saw a very close race to the finish, with the top five places fiercely contested all the way to the final lap.
“Most drivers opted for a one-stop strategy, with the quite long safety car period mid-race also helping these tactics by minimising wear and degradation. The behaviour of all three compounds – each used as race tyres – was definitely positive.
“Two cars even finished the race on a one-stop strategy without using the hardest compound available.”
