Cool weather forecasted for this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix has left teams anxious about the performance of the new Pirelli tires and the risk they could turn the Formula One season-opening race into a lottery.
All teams struggled to adjust to the higher-degradation tires during preseason testing, but were assured by Pirelli the performance was due to the cool European conditions and that the new rubber would perform better in the warmer weather in Australia.
That may have been the case when Melbourne was going through a record-breaking heatwave, but that ended on Wednesday and the forecast on Saturday and Sunday was for cooler temperatures and rain.
Mclaren driver Jenson Button was among those concerned about the tire performance this weekend, despite his deserved reputation for nursing tires better than most and the fact he has won three of the past four races at the Albert Park street circuit.
“This year, I don’t think any team really knows or understands the competitive order,” Button said. “It’s been an extremely hard-to-read winter: Varying fuel loads and levels of tire degradation mean that it’s hard to accurately predict.”
Pirelli’s F1 boss, Paul Hembery, predicted a two or three-stop strategy for Sunday’s race, but that was predicated on warm conditions and on the evidence of winter testing. The cooler weather may change that calculation drastically.
Another man monitoring the tire performance with some concern is Mercedes’ lewis Hamilton, who will be the most scrutinized man on track this weekend, having made the big-money move from Mclaren in the offseason.
“With big changes to the tires again this year, we just don’t know what will happen in the race,” Hamilton said. “I love the circuit. It’s a street track with a really bumpy surface so you try and put as much downforce on the car as possible and it really puts the drivers to the test.
“We had a good, reliable car during winter testing so that’s the positive we can take with us into the weekend but we know that in terms of performance, everything begins again from zero in Friday practice.”
While most teams and drivers are understandably cautious about predicting performance in any season-opener, lotus was going against the trend, boldly tipping a strong performance in Melbourne after promising testing — albeit with some technical glitches.
“From right back in Jerez it was clear that there are a number of quick teams out there,” lotus technical director James Allison said. “It was also clear from the first test that we have the potential to be one of them and the evidence of our running so far hasn’t done anything to dispel that.
“We’ll be in the hunt for podiums and very much looking for race wins. A good Albert Park would be a first-row grid place from qualifying and a podium in the race. It’s certainly possible.”