Pirelli hailed Max Verstappen's victory and Alpine F1's double podium with Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly in Brazil. The Italian manufacturer explained the challenges posed by a busy Sunday with qualifying and the race.
With the red flag in the middle of the race, the teams made a total of 33 tire changes. A total of 51 sets of tires were used during the race, including 5 sets of rain tires.
Only four drivers at the finish used only two sets of tires with only one stop during the interruption. These are the three drivers on the podium and Valtteri Bottas, who finished far down the standings.
Pirelli also brought a pole trophy and caps with a modified design, to honor Ayrton Senna for the 30th anniversary of his death. Mario Isola, the director of Pirelli F1, addressed all of this in his debriefing of the race.
“What can I say, it was a very busy Sunday!” Isola said. “It is true that it has already happened that qualifying and the race take place on the same day, even at this time when Pirelli is the global tire supplier to Formula 1.”
“But never before has this taken place so early in the day and in such a compressed time format, with many members of the Formula 1 family hearing their alarms go off well before dawn!”
“I think we must congratulate everyone who made the whole weekend program come to a successful conclusion, despite the weather which complicated things since Saturday afternoon. There was an extraordinary crowd of almost 300,000 spectators at Interlagos and I am sure that they and everyone watching on television and on the various social platforms were rewarded with a very exciting spectacle, both in qualifying and in the race.
“They experienced a whole range of emotions, which is often the case when rain reduces grip while showcasing the drivers' skills. From a technical point of view, we leave Interlagos having collected lots of useful information.”
The manufacturer has seen its rain tires used, but it has not had time to compare them to intermediates: “During qualifying, we were able to see the extreme and intermediate wet tires in action and clearly check their operating windows.”
“In the race, there was a moment when we could have directly compared the two types of tires over a long stint, but in fact, the neutralization caused by visibility deemed too poor meant that we were unable to do so. 'observe only for a few rounds.'
“It should also be borne in mind that the rain varied in intensity on several occasions and that on a brand new track the level of wet grip was very limited, partly due to the layer of oil that she was creating, all things considered, I think both tires proved up to the task.”
