Pirelli: Paul Hembery plans two to three stops
While 6 to 8 tenths of a second differentiated the soft and medium tires provided to teams by Pirelli during qualifying, Paul Hembery is predicting two to three pit stops during the race, as there is only a slight risk of rain.
It was on the occasion of his 111th Grand Prix that Nico Rosberg secured the first pole position of his career, the first for Mercedes since the Italian Grand Prix in 1955, achieved by Juan Manuel Fangio. Rosberg set a time of 1:35.121; by far the best time set during the weekend.
Michael Schumacher, teammate of the German, will be alongside him on the front row of the grid tomorrow. Both effectively used the Pirelli P Zero Yellow soft tires. Rosberg was half a second faster, making the most of the rear end and ensuring maximum available traction (one of the keys in Shanghai) to secure pole position.
The final top 10 took part in Q3 on P Zero Yellow soft tires, with the Mercedes duo, Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) and Kimi Räikkönen (Lotus), making an early run, while the other six drivers stayed in the pits, taking to the track later. Lewis Hamilton was the only driver to make two outings but will still have to start from seventh position due to a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change.
During Q1, held in dry conditions with the air temperature at 21°C, a large number of competitors made the unusual choice to switch to soft tires at the end of the period, including Jenson Button (McLaren), who embarked on a warm-up lap with the yellow compound, along with the Ferrari drivers. The fastest in the first qualifying phase was one of the stars of the Malaysian Grand Prix, namely Sergio Perez (Sauber), who was on soft tires.
The two Saubers were also among the first to take to the track in the second session on soft tires, the default tire choice for all competitors. The biggest surprise of the session was the elimination of Sebastian Vettel, who was the pole-sitter for the last three Chinese Grand Prix. The German driver will start 11th tomorrow, giving him the freedom to choose the tire compound he will use at the start, just like Lotus driver Romain Grosjean, who did not set a time in Q3.
The last Free Practice, in the morning, took place in dry conditions. It was Lewis Hamilton who set the fastest time, ahead of his teammate Jenson Button, with a lap of 1m35.940s during a qualifying simulation on P Zero Yellow soft tires.
Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber) achieved his best qualifying result with the fourth fastest time, which turned into third place on the grid due to Hamilton’s penalty. The 2007 Champion Kimi Räikkönen will start fourth, his best grid position since his return to Formula 1 this year.
Paul Hembery, Director of Pirelli Motorsport: « We want to extend our congratulations to Nico Rosberg and Mercedes for their achievement today. The way Nico, Michael, and Mercedes utilized the tires was superb. The small gaps between the drivers during the first two sessions show how tight the level of competition is, and what we can expect tomorrow, with a performance margin of around 0.6 to 0.8 seconds per lap between the two compounds and two or three pit stops planned per car. Once again, the Sauber team did an excellent job with the tires, reflected by Kamui’s fourth-best time. Tire degradation is usually high in China: the teams clearly tried to preserve the tires when possible, and tire strategy will be crucial. There is only a low probability of rain tomorrow, but the track might be slightly wet in the morning, and we could have some wet conditions at the very start of the race ».
The tires used by the Top 10:
– Rosberg: Tendre
– Hamilton: Tendre
– Schumacher: Tendre
– Kobayashi: Tendre
– Räikkönen: Tendre
– Button: Tendre
– Webber: Tendre
– Perez: Tendre
– Alonso: Tendre
– Grosjean: Pas de temps établi
[From the official Pirelli press release]
