03/08/2025 13:45
Pirelli motorsport director Mario Isola has explained how an
overnight "reset" of the Hungaroring circuit could produce
"unpredictable situations" at the start of the Hungarian Grand
Prix. Charles Leclerc leads away from pole, with Oscar Piastri
alongside. Lando Norris and George Russell occupy the second row,
ahead of an unexpected all-Aston Martin row three. However, the
rain that fell over Budapest and the nearby track during the night
means the field will be taking a relative step into the unknown
when the 13th grand prix of the F1 season gets underway. Speaking
to media, including RacingNews365 , after qualifying, Isola said
his engineers commented that the left side of the grid, where
Leclerc will start from, is "more grippy compared to the right
side". Unfortunately for the Ferrari driver, the 56-year-old also
described how wet weather overnight would "reset" the surface of
the new tarmac at the Hungaroring. "This could create some
unpredictable situations at the start of the race," he added.
Looking at the strategy options for the teams, Isola believes a
two-stop approach will be the quickest to the chequered flag, but
he has not ruled out the offset one-stopper. "The strategy
medium-hard-hard two-stop is still the quickest on paper, he
explained. "But with two hards, we have only McLaren [one set
scrubbed], Ferrari, Mercedes, Alpine and [Max] Verstappen... "The
only team with two medium is Sauber [Stake]. So, medium-hard-medium
is also a possible strategy, but only Sauber has two sets of
mediums, while all the others have only one set of mediums, one set
of hards. "For them, there is the possibility... I believe they are
planning, maybe, to start with a one-stop strategy, with the idea
of a one-stop medium-hard, and if it is not possible to achieve
this one-stop strategy, they can fit softs at the end, and it is
still a good strategy. "If they decide, despite having one medium
and one hard, to start the race with a two-stop strategy in mind,
then soft-medium-hard is probably better, because you are quick at
the beginning. "You use the medium for the undercut - that is very
powerful here - and then you have the last stint on the hard." When
asked for what time delta between the prime and alternate
strategies, Isola highlighted a difference of around 10 seconds,
but did concede that cooler conditions could reduce that gap. His
answer was provided on Saturday evening, and whilst it is
significantly cooler on Sunday compared to earlier parts of the
weekend, clear conditions, which would have further reduced the
deficit, did not prevail. "At the moment, a one-stop is more or
less 10 seconds lower with the level of degradation that we
measured [on Friday]," Isola stated. "So if it is cooler and you
are able to manage the tyre better, these 10 seconds could be less.
"That's why I believe that two stops is still the preferred choice,
but we will see tomorrow the condition. "If [Sunday] is cool, maybe
it didn't rain, so you have a rubber on track, and the track
evolution was quite high [on Friday and Saturday morning], there is
the possibility to manage a one-stop strategy." The various
strategy options are further explained HERE , and the tyres
available are shown below.
