Pirelli, Paul Hembery: “The whole race was about strategy”

The German Grand Prix saw McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton take his second win of the 2011 season and the 16th of his career, as well as his first points on the legendary Nürburgring, over the course of 60 thrilling laps of the race characterized by numerous intense battles for the command. Second place went to Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso, ahead of Mark Webber's Red Bull Racing, who started from pole and finished in third position.

Hamilton burned Webber at the start, like all the other drivers, who left the grid on P Zero Yellow soft tyres. Webber then took the lead again, stopping early to fit another set of softs on lap 14, ahead of Hamilton and Alonso who were traveling very close together.

The Red Bull Racing driver was the first of the leading trio to change tires again on lap 30, but Hamilton, who stopped on the following lap, returned to the track right next to the Australian and, after a close duel at the first corner, he took first position. Alonso tried the same tactic on lap 32 and also managed to take first in the heat of the battle, before Hamilton regained the advantage to finish first.

The top three stopped three times in total and used the same strategy, with the first three stints on the P Zero Yellow soft tires and the last on the P Zero White medium. With the softs over a second per lap faster than the mediums, ambient temperatures of 13 degrees centigrade and the constant threat of rain, the riders tried to stay on track for as long as possible on the P Zero Yellow softs, focusing everything on strategy.

Hamilton was first to make his final pitstop, switching to the medium compound with nine laps to go. Alonso returned two laps later, returning to the track right behind Hamilton – very fast straight away on the medium P Zero Whites. The best placing among the drivers who opted for a two-stop strategy was that of Adrian Sutil who, with sixth place, secured the best result of the year, precisely in his home Grand Prix.

The comment from Pirelli Motorsport Director, Paul Hembery: “The whole race was about strategy, as we saw Hamilton, Alonso and Webber all tried to use the pitstops to their advantage. Although some thought there would be a bigger gap between the soft and medium tyres, Lewis Hamilton managed to win the race in style, having been the first of the frontrunners to switch to the P Zero White medium. Even today, we again saw a wide range of strategies, with two drivers even delaying their final pitstop until the very last lap of the race. Due to the cold temperatures and smooth surface, the tires lasted a very long time here at the Nurburgring, an interesting contrast to the early part of the season when some claimed our tires didn't last long enough! This underlines not only how quickly Formula One teams and drivers learn to understand the tools at their disposal, but also how complex our job as tire suppliers is. Despite this, we saw three pitstops per car, exactly in line with our objectives.”