Isola: Drivers can push hard 'from start to finish' in France

Pirelli's head of motorsport Mario Isola believes drivers will be able to push hard from the start to the end of the French Grand Prix this weekend.

The Italian manufacturer is bringing the C2, C3 and C4 compounds to the weekend, which it admits is a more conservative option than 2018, as the 'ultrasoft' compound is no longer in its range.

Last year, Pirelli used a thinner gauge tyre at three Grands Prix, including France, a structure that it has adopted completely for the 2019 season.

Pirelli believes that this will allow it to make direct comparisons as to how the tyre has evolved from 12 months ago.

"Our tyre choice this weekend is slightly more conservative than the 2018 soft, supersoft and ultrasoft tyres that we brought to France last year, as the supersoft is no longer part of the 2019 range," Isola said.

"Consequently, the drivers should be able to push hard from the start to the finish of each stint. Along with Barcelona and Silverstone, we used the thinner gauge tyres in France last year, so we can again make a direct comparison about how the cars have evolved from 2018."

Isola says that there is still much for Pirelli to learn, as it is only the second year F1 has run at the Paul Ricard circuit since bringing on Pirelli as the sole tyre supplier. 

Much of the track has also been resurfaced since the 2018 French Grand Prix, meaning tyre degradation should be reduced. 

"Although a large part of the circuit has been re-asphalted, it should not make much difference to the track’s characteristics," Isola added. "With this being only the second time at the circuit, teams still do not have a full complement of data, so we will see plenty of learning.

"We have already used Paul Ricard for testing this year, but that has been on a much shorter, separate configuration rather than the full Grand Prix circuit."