Pirelli has requested all teams to make a pit stop and not finish the Grand Prix with one set of intermediates. The tyre supplier from Italy was afraid that safety would be compromised otherwise. Esteban Ocon and Alpine finished the race with only one set.
"Every car is different so the level of wear is different and how hard they push," Isola told Sky Sports. "More or less all the tyres were with exposed cords. Not only [Ocon's car] most of the cars that stopped after lap 47/48s tyres were completely finished."
The top man looked at the tyres from Hamilton's first stint after the race and from that he drew the following conclusion: "I would have said he wouldn't have made it. At least he was really on the limit." According to Isola, this was mainly because the wear and tear on the tyres was especially extreme at the end of the race. "That's when they were actually driving on the casing of the tyre."
Pirelli made a request to teams
From the tire manufacturer, all race teams were also warned Sunday afternoon. "I was instructing the engineers working the teams to pit the drivers for safety," revealed Isola.