Does Verstappen have an advantage over Alonso in the race?

F1 News

Pirelli tyre review gives away interesting information
28 May 2023 at 12:04
Last update 28 May 2023 at 12:39
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  • Olly Darcy
  • Editor

Tyre supplier Pirelli has published an overview of all the tyres that drivers will have at their disposal this afternoon. Max Verstappen appears to have an advantage over Fernando Alonso, who starts behind him from P2, although a caveat must be added.

The Dutchman has a new set of hards and medium at his disposal for the race. Fernando Alonso would no longer have a new set of tyres, according to the data, but there is a trick behind that fact.

The old Alonso trick

The Spaniard is known for wanting to use each set of tyres for one lap before the race, in order to drive off the top layer of the tyre. The tyres may not be new on paper but are only a single lap older than the tyres the Dutchman has at his disposal.

New softs for Perez and De Vries

Should Sergio Perez be able to find some space at the end of the race, the Mexican could go for the fastest race lap, provided he manages to work himself up towards the top ten. After all, the Red Bull driver still has four new sets of softs at his disposal due to his early crash in qualifying.

Nyck de Vries not only has a new set of mediums ready, but the AlphaTauri driver can also use a new set of red tyres. This gives the Dutchman an advantage over teammate Yuki Tsunoda, who used his last new set of softs in Q3.