Pirelli expects " significant graining" for the front tyres

Formula One's sole tyre manufacturer Pirelli's chief engineer Simone Berra suggested that front graining could emerge as a significant factor in Saturday's 19km dash and in Sunday's main race.

Lewis Hamilton is the first pole-sitter of the Shanghai weekend, having secured the top slot on the grid for tomorrow’s Sprint with a brilliant lap in Q3, the only segment of the session which, according to the regulations, is contested using the Soft compound tyre.ű

The seven-time world champion stopped the clocks in 1’30”849, just 18 thousandths of a second quicker than four-time world champion, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. Third, 80 thousandths down was Oscar Piastri for McLaren, who had initially been quickest on his first run. His team-mate, Lando Norris, had been quickest in Q2, setting the best time on the Medium tyre – which must be used for the first two sessions - of 1’31”174.

As was also the case in Melbourne, there were no fewer than seven teams represented in the top ten, showing just how evenly matched they are in this early stage of the season.

This event’s only free practice session saw all the teams use just one set of Medium and one of Soft per driver, a clear indication that they plan to keep both sets of Hard for Sunday’s race. The only exception was Jack Doohan who only ran one set of Mediums.

Commenting on Friday's running, Pirelli's chief engineer Simone Berra conceded that the Milan-based tyre manufacturer was surprised by the scale of improvement in lap time compared to the previous seasons.

“We were all very keen to see how the tyres would behave on this completely new surface. We had some data prior to arriving in Shanghai and, from the measurements we then carried out here in recent days, we had noticed that the abrasion level of the track was significantly lower than last year, with a much smoother surface and fewer of the bumps that had been a feature of this track in the past.

"From what we saw today, we can say that the level of grip generated on this surface is really surprising: rarely have we witnessed such a significant improvement in times – with the same car technical regulations – as we did today. Hamilton’s time is over five seconds quicker than the best time from last year’s Sprint Qualifying, which becomes 4”873 when comparing it with the same compound."

The new track surface saw lap times drop significantly compared to last year, which was the only edition of the Chinese Grand Prix run with this current generation of car. However, Hamilton’s time was even better than the 1’31”095 set by Sebastian Vettel when he took pole in 2018.

Due to the condensed nature of the sprint weekend, teams have been unable to complete meaningful high-fuel running so far this weekend, leaving Pirelli with little data to rely on. However, Berra suggested that it will be vital for drivers to look after the front tyres as graining could be a big issue in the sprint and the main race.

"With only 60 minutes of free practice, the teams weren’t able to do any significant long runs with race fuel loads, which is always the case on a Sprint weekend. We saw significant graining on the front left tyre, leading to degradation in terms of performance, but without it having much impact on wear.

"In terms of lap times, the degradation on the Medium and Soft seems quite high (between two and three tenths) which is one reason why all teams decided to keep both sets of Hards, almost certainly for Sunday afternoon.

"Tomorrow’s Sprint will be a great opportunity for everyone to do a real long run, thus providing a clearer picture in terms of race strategy, even if the fuel load will not be as much as the one needed to start the Grand Prix. On paper, the most likely choice for the short race is the Medium. Last year, Russell did reasonably well on the Soft, but it’s hard to see anyone attempting to do the same tomorrow.”