Pirelli: three pit stops expected in Barcelona

Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg took his third career pole position, ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton. Pole was scored on Pirelli P Zero White medium tyres, brought by Pirelli to Barcelona together with the new P Zero Orange hard tyres.

The time with which Rosberg set pole, 1m20.718s, was a second and a half faster than the one that allowed Williams driver Pastor Maldonado to start from first position last year, 1m22.285s on tires soft. This, despite the fact that last season the use of DRS was unlimited.

Obtaining an excellent qualification is fundamental in Barcelona since, historically, only once has the race been won by those who started from beyond the front row on the grid.

Ferrari driver Felipe Massa, on the medium compound, was the fastest in this morning's free practice session, with an advantage of just 0,006 seconds over Kimi Raikkonen's Lotus.

Pirelli Motorsport Director, Paul Hembery: “Due to yesterday's rain, the teams had little time to prepare for qualifying. So there were still some question marks today. As expected, we have seen a constant evolution of the track: the pole time this year was the fastest since we returned to Formula One in 2011. The teams immediately found grip with our latest evolution of the P Zero Orange hard, which should make it easier to keep hedges in their optimal working range and thus allow a wider variety of strategies to be used. The Barcelona circuit is quite demanding on the tyres, due to the high level of lateral energy discharged on the tyres, the quite abrasive surface and the high temperatures. As with last year, we expect a three-stop race tomorrow. The Spanish Grand Prix has always been won by those who started from the front rows, so it will be interesting to see if any of the drivers will be able to reverse this trend thanks to race strategies."

Strategies, Pirelli forecasts

The fastest strategy for the 66 lap race of the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix seems to be the 3 pit stop strategy, like last year: start on medium tyres, stop on lap 16 to switch to a new set of mediums, another pit stop on lap 33 to fit a set of fresh mediums and finally a final pit stop on lap 50 to switch to hard tires.

Alternatively, another three-pit stop strategy involves starting with the mediums, fitting a new set of mediums on the 3th lap, replacing them with the hards on the 17th lap, to run a final stint with the hards fresh from the 34th lap.