Change to Soft Tyre Compound Opens up Australian Grand Prix Strategy Options – Pirelli

Mario Isola believes teams will have more strategic options during this years Australian Grand Prix than in 2022 thanks to the changing of the softest compound from the C5 to the C4.

The 2022 event saw Charles Leclerc win with a one-stop strategy with the C5 tyre being ignored on race day, but the change to the C4 should enable all three compounds to be used on Sunday afternoon.  And it sees Pirelli Motorsport reverting back to the tyre choices they made in the final Australian Grand Prix before the COVID-19 outbreak.

Isola, the Motorsport Director at Pirelli, is also expecting the Albert Park track to be quicker than it was twelve months ago, and he is hopeful of a good weekend of racing.

“We’ve made the same tyre choice as we did back in 2019 for the Australian Grand Prix,” said Isola. “Following a two-year absence from the calendar due to the Covid pandemic, we went for a gap in the nominated compounds last year: selecting the C2, C3 and then the softest C5 compound.

“That race was a one-stopper won by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, with all the teams using the hard and the medium tyre, while the soft was just used for qualifying. This weekend, the teams will have the C2, C3, and C4 at their disposal, which means that they have more options for the race in terms of strategy: on paper at least.

“We’re expecting a high degree of track evolution throughout the weekend, as is normally the case in Melbourne, while the energy demands on the tyres are about average for the season.

“It’s a flowing track with corners that are faster following last year’s modifications, which benefit overtaking as well as the overall spectacle.”