“Tires, tires, tires,” George Russell said via radio to Toto Wolff after his unexpected podium at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Indeed, the determining factor in the entire race was once again the tires, which were difficult to read not only for Mercedes but for all competitors. Data in hand, this indecipherable behavior was the cause of Ferrari’s defeat: as Leclerc himself recounted, Ferrari stopped a lap after McLaren because they believed Piastri’s hard tires would take longer to warm up, but after the pit stop, the Australian was already behind him, ready to attack.
In interviews with Sky Sport, George Russell strongly criticized Pirelli, asking for clarifications: “The race was strange. In the first part, we were losing 1.5 seconds per lap, while in the last 20 laps, I was consistently gaining a second on Oscar and Charles. The circuit is the same, as are the driver and the car; we only changed the tire compound. It makes me furious how performance can change so much. And this doesn’t just happen to us but to every driver; in one session, they are fast, and in the next, they are not, depending on the tires. It’s black magic; I think even Pirelli doesn’t know how to interpret the data well. We need serious conversations about what is happening because we have 2,000 people working like mad to bring the best car to the track, and it only happened in the last 20 laps; in the others, we shouldn’t even have scored points. It must not happen again.”
Tires are the main topic
This was not the only time tires made a substantial difference: you can mention Belgium, where George Russell himself had an incredible stint on hard tires that allowed him to win, at least for a few hours. Or you can talk about Charles Leclerc at Monza, who managed his tires to avoid a second stop and triumph in front of an ecstatic crowd. In both cases, these strategic choices were big risks, which only someone with nothing to lose would take, but in which no one, not even Pirelli itself, believes. And it also seems that even a slight change in track conditions or weather makes a big difference, rendering hours of Free Practice futile.
Everything is played on a knife-edge, relying on drivers’ feelings, George Russell wanting to dare, Charles Leclerc having nothing to lose, Oscar Piastri disobeying team orders. Thus, a great show is born for those at home, where human talent makes its way in a sea of artificial intelligence and engineers’ calculations, but a big headache for all the people on the pit wall. So, instead of focusing on the flexible rear wing, which now seems almost like a scapegoat to explain McLaren’s advantage, it might be better to look into other areas.
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