Following the Italian Grand Prix, the Components One discipline is now gearing up for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix the place drivers will race with the three softest tyres of Pirelli’s six-compound vary.
The European a part of the Components 1 season has come to an finish on the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, and the game bids farewell to the Outdated Continent because it prepares for the ultimate third of the championship, beginning in Baku, the Metropolis of Winds.
The Azerbaijan capital is the largest city space on the Caspian Sea, in addition to of the whole Caucasus area. It has hosted a Grand Prix yearly since 2016 except 2020. Curiously, that first yr it was often known as the European Grand Prix, though Azerbaijan is geographically in Asia.
The compounds
Pirelli is bringing its softest trio of 2025 compounds for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, which is a step softer than final yr. The truth is, the C6 is again because the Gentle, having already been utilized in Imola, Monaco and Montreal. The C5 would be the Medium and the C4 the Exhausting.
On a road circuit with low ranges of grip and put on, bringing the identical choice as in 2024 would inevitably have led to a one-stop technique. Pirelli hopes that the marginally softer compounds will open the door for a two-stop technique, which might be aided by the truth that this yr’s vary suffers a lot much less from graining.
Technique evaluate
Though final yr’s compounds got here from the softest finish of Pirelli’s vary, the graceful floor and the low-speed corners noticed nearly all of the drivers pursue a single-stop technique.
Fourteen drivers went with the C4 (Medium) for the primary stint, with the remainder of the sector selecting the C3 (Exhausting). Of these on the entrance 5 rows of the grid, solely McLaren’s Lando Norris and Williams’ Alex Albon went with the toughest compound.
As already talked about, earlier than the beginning the whole discipline seemed to have deliberate on a single cease. Nonetheless, Lance Stroll and Max Verstappen made a second cease, within the case of the previous due to a puncture and for the latter, in an try to select up the additional level for setting the quickest race lap, as did Pierre Gasly who drove the longest stint, finishing 50 laps on the Exhausting, earlier than switching to Softs on the penultimate lap.
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