Tyre supplier Pirelli celebrated their 350th grand prix in Formula 1 in the extreme heat at the 2018 British Grand Prix, and Head of Car Racing Mario Isola believes it was the perfect showcase for the Italian company.
“We saw a thrilling and unpredictable grand prix featuring a variety of different strategies and all three compounds being used.
“As well as the very different strategies based on soft and medium tyres that made up the first five places, Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg made up six places by stopping once, from medium to hard.
“The race was obviously affected by safety cars that put many of the pre-planned strategies into question, but all the drivers were able to fight hard from start to finish on every compound at one of the season’s most demanding circuits.
“This culminated in a thrilling finale that perfectly showcased the spectacular nature of Formula 1, at Pirelli’s 350th grand prix.”
As track temperatures reached a scorching 50 degrees centigrade all three compounds performed well, Nico Hulkenberg completed the most laps (32) and took the fastest lap (1:33.405) of the drivers on the Ice Blue compound.
Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time on the Medium White compound on his way to second place, but it was Esteban Ocon that stayed out longest on the tyres with 33 laps.
Fastest on the Soft Yellow compound was Sebastian Vettel who set a best time of 1:30.696 as he claimed victory, and while he didn’t finish the race Romain Grosjean was the driver who set the most laps on the compound at 26 laps.
