Pirelli, Hembery: “A quiet race but Spa remains the toughest test for an F1 tire”

Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel took his 31st career victory in the Belgian Grand Prix, achieved with a two-stop strategy. The German equaled Nigel Mansell's number of victories. The 26-year-old from Red Bull, who also set the fastest lap in the race on the hard tyre, climbed to the top step of the podium starting from second position. From a Championship perspective, Sebastian Vettel's lead over second in the standings, Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, rises to 46 points.

Thanks to an excellent strategy, Fernando Alonso managed to climb from ninth to second position. The Spaniard made two stops, using the medium tire for two stints before switching to the hard tire on lap 28, with a pit stop that lasted just 2,6 seconds.

The race started with 19 degrees of ambient temperature and 25 degrees of track temperature. Despite there being a 60% chance of rain, conditions remained dry until the end of the race. All drivers started on medium tyres, with the exception of the two Marussia drivers, Max Chilton and Jules Bianchi, Daniel Ricciardo, Toro Rosso and Esteban Gutierrez, Sauber.

The first driver to make a pit stop was Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber, who returned on lap nine to fit new hard tyres. Vettel pitted five laps later, switched to medium and then returned to the track in second place. The German regained the lead before his final pit stop, on lap 30, when he fitted a set of hard tyres, returning to first place again. With this strategy he remained leading the race until the end.

Mark Webber, Red Bull, adopted a different two-stop strategy from his teammate: he switched to hard tires in the first stop and then completed a final stint on medium tyres, finishing in fifth position.

The only driver to make a single stop was Romain Grosjean, Lotus, who finished in eighth position. The highest ranked driver to start on the hard tire was Daniel Ricciardo, who finished 10th after starting from 19th position. He also finished the race on medium tyres.

Pirelli Motorsport Director, Paul Hembery, said: “After the wet qualifying, the drivers were able to choose which compound to start with, and this increased the range of possible strategies.

Many drivers and teams maximized this opportunity, especially Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull, who dominated the race. But we also saw some good strategies at the back of the grid, where many drivers improved their starting positions.

It was actually a fairly calm Belgian Grand Prix, with dry conditions from start to finish and no safety car. But Spa remains arguably the toughest test for a Formula One tyre, with its long lap and high energy loads: the performance and durability of our tires on one of the most challenging tracks in the Championship was in line with ours expectations ".