KEY MOMENTS
HOW EACH TYRE PERFORMED
FORMULA 3: RACE 2 AND RACE 3
Matteo Nannini claimed victory in Saturday afternoon’s second 22-lap race. The HWA Racelab driver made a strong start from third on the grid to take second at the first corner and then moved into the lead on lap four. In 45 degrees of track temperature, managing the P Zero Yellow compound was vital.
Sunday’s race was very different, getting underway in the wet behind the safety car with all the field on the Cinturato Blue wet tyres (only one wet-weather tyre is available for Formula 3). Prema’s Dennis Hauger, who started from second on the grid, overhauled his pole-sitting team mate Arthur Leclerc to extend his championship lead. Towards the end of the race the track dried and Nannini gambled on a move to slicks, but although he was much quicker than the drivers remaining on wets, he was affected by a safety car and ran out of laps to make the difference. Nonetheless, the wet tyres stood up well to a wide variety of wet and dry conditions.
MARIO ISOLA – HEAD OF #f1 AND CAR RACING
“Even before the race start it was hard to make any predictions, so the race began as a complete step into the unknown today, with the drivers having no reference point for the conditions they faced this afternoon. The amount of water meant that the intermediates were the clear choice to originally start the race with, but with the track drying rapidly following the red flag delay, it effectively became a dry race after the re-start. If we just consider this as the ‘real’ race, some drivers selected a medium-hard one-stopper while others like Hamilton and Verstappen – who were running out of position due to the unusual race circumstances – went for a two-stop ‘sprint’ strategy. Congratulations to Esteban Ocon and Alpine for their first win.”
Further information in the press release to download
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