Pirelli, Hembery: “The three available compounds offered various options in terms of tactics”

The Japanese Grand Prix confirmed that it is one of the most exciting races of the World Championship, with lots of overtaking and a wide variety of strategies. The soft-hard-hard two-stop proved to be the most popular, used by the top three at the finish.

Nico Rosberg won the GP after a perfect start from pole and after resisting the attempts of the Red Bull drivers to make an 'undercut' on him, bringing forward the pitstops. Lewis Hamilton's other Mercedes stayed on track slightly longer to gain places, finishing third after slipping to eighth due to a mistake at the start. In the final pit stops he then passed Vettel, who mounted soft tires for the final stint. Hamilton chose the extra duration of the hard tires to try to undermine the second position of Max Verstappen's Red Bull in the closing stages, giving rise to an unpredictable finish. But not everyone followed a two-stop strategy: Williams drivers Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa opted for just one pit stop and both finished in the points. The Renaults and Saubers also stopped only once.

At the start of the race, all three compounds were seen, with the top 10 all on soft, while the one-stop riders started on medium or hard. Force India was the only team to use all three compounds in the race.

Paul Hembery, Pirelli motorsport director: “We saw a lot of overtaking and a lot of strategies, with the three available compounds offering a wide variety of options in terms of tactics. The fact that the race was dry and the absence of safety cars led to two stops for most drivers, although there were other options that worked well, including a one-stop on one of the fastest circuits. challenging ones of the year in terms of tire use. Congratulations to Mercedes for their third Constructors' Title."