It is quite a modern classic: it is more likely that Ferrari Get it wrong before you get it right in Grand Prix tire strategies. It is a key element for the results to arrive, and it does not always turn out well for those of the Scuderia.
Fernando Alonso goes back to 8th, Sainz sinks due to another Ferrari blunder and Hamilton triumphs in Portimao
The latest victim has been Carlos Sainz. The Madrilenian started 5th and finished 11th, and not only because he was at a different pace compared to his rivals (he came out with soft tires and the rest with socks), but because in the only pit stop they did in the race, they put the tires on him. wrong.
Sainz had to struggle for half the race with media that were not performing well. The temperature problems in those compounds had already appeared in the wheels of Charles Leclerc, causing a serious ‘graining’ but incomprehensibly instead of riding the hard tires (like almost everyone, including the Monegasque himself) Sainz was given the media. Outcome: the same problem that Leclerc’s car had appeared in Sainz’s.
“We knew that there was a high possibility of graining, and as soon as I put a medium tire I saw that it was not going to work. I tried to do an ‘undercut’ to Lando (Norris), which was very important, but as soon as the ‘graining’ appeared. I could not have done anything. Be part of the learning curve“, the Madrilenian resigned after the race.
This is how Fernando Alonso went back from the 13th to the 8th, an overtaking festival at the Portuguese GP
The ‘graining‘appears when the temperature difference between tires and asphalt is noticeable. It can be because of the very cold or very hot track, and it causes the rubber chips that remain on the track as the race progresses to get stuck in the tires, usually the front ones, which causes a lot of loss. adherence. This forces the pilots to slow down to avoid an accident, which makes it impossible to attack or defend themselves properly.
To avoid this dreaded tire problem, both the driver’s driving and the team’s strategy must be correct. Sainz tried to fight Norris, but was quickly powerless. Not only with him, but with Fernando Alonso, Pierre Gasly or Daniel Ricciardo, which ended up kicking him out of the point zone.