2014 Chinese Grand Prix: Strategy Summary
After the Chinese Grand Prix, won by Lewis Hamilton ahead of Nico Rosberg, find the analysis of the tire strategy.
Following the qualifying rounds of the Chinese Grand Prix, held in the rain, the race that took place on a dry track allowed all drivers the option to choose which tires to start the race with. Additionally, the wet conditions on Friday allowed all teams to have fresh tires available for this Grand Prix.
It must be noted that almost all the drivers chose to quickly get rid of the soft tires, which are more prone to graining on a circuit that Pirelli claims to be one of the most demanding in this respect. Thus, only Kevin Magnussen started on medium tires.
If different strategies were subsequently possible, 14 of the 20 drivers at the finish chose to only make two stops, using medium tires twice after the first stint on soft tires. Some, despite making two stops, decided to act differently: Jean-Eric Vergne, for example, ran his first two stints on soft tires.
Other drivers opted for a more aggressive three-stop strategy, but these were mostly drivers at the back of the grid: Esteban Gutiérrez, Kamui Kobayashi, as well as Max Chilton and Marcus Ericsson. On Chilton’s side, however, the statement provided by Pirelli indicates that the third stint was done on hard tires; yet this type of tire was not used in China.
Paul Hembery, Director of Motorsport at Pirelli: « At the beginning, the strategies were open: it was going to be a race with 2 or 3 stops, with the performance of the soft tire in the first stint and the medium tire in the second stint being key to the potential of each driver.
Once it became clear that a slight increase in track temperature wasn’t going to have a significant effect on the graining of the medium tires, the teams focused on the main compound: the medium. Temperatures have been generally low throughout this weekend – among the lowest we’ve seen during a Grand Prix in the last 3 years – and as a result, we’ve seen graining on the soft tires in particular, which also caused marbles on the back straight. This is not something we like to see, but under such circumstances, it was to be expected.
The degradation of the medium tire was less than one tenth of a second per lap here, whereas that of the soft ones was over two tenths per lap.
Article produced from the communiqué sent by Pirelli after the 2014 Chinese Grand Prix race
