Pirelli’s Mario Isola: “All three compounds showed versatility and performance”

Mario Isola was delighted with the performance of all three compounds of tyre during the Austrian Grand Prix weekend, with all three playing vital parts in certain times of the Sprint race event.

The soft was the favoured tyre during Qualifying and was used by a handful of drivers in the Sprint race on Saturday, while the medium and hard compounds were the preferred tyres during Sunday’s main race at the Red Bull Ring.

One stop strategies were expected prior to the weekend, but Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen both made three pit stops as tyre degradation was more than expected, although fellow podium finisher Lewis Hamilton made only two trips to the pit lane on his way to third.

“We’re happy with today’s race,” said Isola. “All three compounds showed versatility and performance on different cars and set-ups throughout the three days of this very specific sprint weekend, on a unique circuit like Spielberg.

“This comes one week after Silverstone: two circuits that couldn’t be more different, but where the combination of cars and tyres both guaranteed a great show.”

Isola says the medium compounds proved to have excellent performance throughout the race on Sunday, but he feels the problems the teams had keeping life in the hard tyre was down to the lack of running on that compound prior to the race due to the condensed Sprint race weekend format.

“The medium showed excellent performance, while the degradation on the hard was higher than expected today: probably because the teams didn’t have time to try it out thoroughly in race conditions during free practice, due to the condensed nature of a sprint weekend,” he said.

“A lot of the degradation seen today was also down to traffic on this short lap, as when cars are battling they take more energy out of their tyres.

“I’m happy with all the positive comments about the work done by everyone here and back in our base at Milan but there’s no time to rest: we remain at the Red Bull Ring for our latest 2023 development test, involving four teams that will share duties throughout Tuesday and Wednesday.”

Credit: Pirelli Motorsport