Isola breathes a sigh of relief: "Tyres stood up extremely well"

With the criticism often aimed at Pirelli tyres and the bumpy road surface at Circuit of the Americas, major problems with the tyres at the US Grand Prix seemed inevitable. The day after the race, Pirelli chief Mario Isola breathes a sigh of relief.

Pirelli tyre holds up well

With the high temperatures the bumpy road surface and Pirelli's occasional blunders, it was exciting in America what would happen to the tyres. In the end the tyres held up well. It was however necessary to drive a two-stop race.

Isola is happy that the tyres did their job well and sees with the regulars of the race, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, that several types of races were possible because of the tyres.

Verstappen and Hamilton brought tyres to life

On the Pirelli website Isola says: “Tyre wear was high as we expected on this hot and abrasive circuit, which led to nearly everyone choosing the medium to start the race on and then focussing on the hard as the main race tyre. This stood up extremely well to the demands on it."

With Verstappen and Hamilton, Isola saw the rubber come to life the best: "Both Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton had exactly the same tyre allocation left before the race but used it in very different ways, with Hamilton making the most of his younger tyres at the end, and Verstappen capitalising on the track position gained by his ‘undercuts’."