Paul Hembery: “China proved to be one of the most fascinating races in our first year, with tyre strategy at the heart of it, so we have a tough act to follow. However, the philosophy we have adopted this year actually extends the window of peak performance on the slick tyres, which means that the drivers should be able to race harder and closer. Although ambient temperatures can be quite low in China, tyre degradation is traditionally high due to the unique track layout. So although we have the same nomination as we saw in Australia – medium and soft – our P Zeros will face a quite different challenge next week in Shanghai.”
Sergio Perez, Sauber F1 Team: “For the tyres in Shanghai it is very important to get the car‟s set up right, especially for the front axle. The long high-speed corners, in particular turn one, put a lot of load on the front tyres and you have to make sure you don’t lose them too quickly. This is what is most important in terms of tyres for the Shanghai International Circuit. I am very much looking forward to that race. We have proven that the Sauber C31-Ferrari can be competitive. Now we have to keep our head down and work hard for further improvements.”
Jaime Alguersuari, Pirelli’s test driver: “China is a circuit where the tyre use and strategy makes a real difference. If you want some examples, just look at last year’s race: Lewis Hamilton won by making one stop more than Sebastian Vettel, while Mark Webber had a bad qualifying but made good use of the tyres that he had saved to end up third.
“Two corners in particular stand out, where the tyres make a real difference: the key to getting the best of out them is to properly understand how the two different compounds behave: to begin with, the first corner, turn one. This righthander feels like it is going on forever when you drive it and the radius gets tighter and tighter, until it turns back on itself completely. The tyres have to work really hard here in order to maintain the ideal line.
“The other key corner is turn 13: the long right-hander just before the main straight. It’s a fast corner, which is slightly banked, where the tyres are increasingly loaded as you accelerate towards the straight and the DRS zone. Getting good traction out of this corner is vital – particularly in qualifying – so that you can carry plenty of speed onto the straight, which is crucial to your lap time.”
Discussion about this post