2018 Hungarian GP, post-qualifying review: Pirelli’s Mario Isola on the best strategy for the race. Pirelli racing manager comments on what to expect in Hungary.

Pirelli’s head of car racing Mario Isola expects teams to push for a one-stop strategy, but the Italian does not rule out other strategy solutions given the high amount of fresh slick tyres following heavy raining during the qualifying session.

After scorching weather during Friday free practices, Saturday’s all-important qualifying session saw heavy rainfall hitting the track. While drivers could use slick tyres in the first qualifying session, Q2 and Q3 were dominated by intermediate and wet tyres.

For tomorrow, dry weather and high temperatures, similar to Friday, are expected. As the drivers all used intermediate and wet tyres for qualifying, the entire grid will have a free choice of slick tyres to start the race tomorrow.

“The wet and dry nature of the track at the start of qualifying was reminiscent of the final phase of the Hockenheim race last weekend, causing a similar headache for the teams who had to try and second guess the conditions. As the qualifying session went on, the situation became clearer, with heavy rain,” – Mario Isola started his assessment. – “Tomorrow is expected to be dry though, so we can probably expect a one-stop race, depending on the degradation of the ultrasoft. However, as the teams will all have a free choice of starting slick tyres, the potential for different strategies has been opened up – adding another element of unpredictability,” concluded Mario Isola, as reported by Pirelli’s official website.

Pirelli’s table shows the best times achieved on the different compounds.