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Pirelli has confirmed that the new hypersoft tyre will debut at Monaco later this year. For the 2018 season, Formula 1's tyre supplier introduced two new compounds - the superhard and the hypersoft.
The hypersoft replaces the ultrasoft as the fastest available tyre, with Pirelli expecting the lap times to drop dramatically around the streets of Monaco in May. The tyre, which is distinguished by its pink markings, has been described as the best Pirelli has produced since returning to F1 by world champion Lewis Hamilton.
And Pirelli is expecting a big gap between the ultrasoft and hypersoft at Monaco, predicting a difference of 0.7s - 0.8s per lap: "Monaco is a lot about mechanical grip so a softer tyre will give a big advantage in terms of lap time,” the Italian marque's racing manager Mario Isola told F1.com. "I have a good expectation that we will have a lap record."
The current qualifying lap record was set by Kimi Raikkonen last year when he grabbed pole position with a 1:12.178. At pre-season testing, Mercedes and Haas were the only teams not to clock in some mileage on the hypersoft tyre, but Isola doesn't think that will be a problem come the weekend at Monaco.
"I don’t think it will be an issue for them," he said. ”Monaco is such a unique circuit that teams need to run the hypersoft in practice to assess the level of grip and degradation. It’s difficult to take numbers from other circuits and make a comparison."
Fergal Walsh
Grand Prix of Belgium
C. Sainz jr
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Replies (5)
Login to replyPauli
Posts: 140
Good news as last year US was pretty close to making whole race without stops :) But I guess the difference means that undercuts turn from nearly impossible to impossible. Last year only Max had chance for undercut work but it would have required perfections.
I guess we will see people try to make HS last as long as possible just to keep race position. But then there is chance for someone choosing harder tyre for first stint but I don't think that will work unless we have VSC or SC after HS pit stop window.
boudy
Posts: 1,168
Agree. Monaco is the place for overcuts, undercuts only work if you can retain position relative to where you were. Say VER is behind bottas again, if he's ahead by the pit window time (in/out of pit) than he can safely try an undercut but he has to gain the time during his out lap. Otherwise staying out and retaining position is thing to do.
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
My only hope for Monaco is that hypersofts prove to be signifcantly faster, prompting teams to use drastically different strategies. Otherwise, it could be a seriously boring race.
JCF1
Posts: 27
I hope we don't see hypersofts at Monaco. That would mean it will be a rainy weekend and the usual borefest would be more interesting to watch.
RogerF1
Posts: 501
Faster laps on hypermarshmallow might mean more competition with the Armco, spice it up a bit. Hope the coverage lasts long enough to watch the fire trucks trying to wash the marshmallow off the tarmac so the celebs don’t get stuck strolling along the grid post race. Much better if it rains. Monaco should be the opening race of the season, cold and wet.