Most drivers who claimed the points positions in Shanghai used similar strategies, starting on the medium compound tyres before switching to hards.
But two drivers bucked the trend, incorporating a stint on softs, with mixed results.
Lewis Hamilton qualified a lowly 18th, so was always going to be a strong candidate to start the race on the soft tyres. Pirelli estimated these gave drivers a gain of 3.8 metres as they accelerated to 150kph at the start compared to rivals on the medium rubber.
But Hamilton couldn’t take full advantage of it as he got boxed in on the inside line at the first corner. Instead of making up places at the start he came around in 19th place, having been overtaken by Yuki Tsunoda, who used his soft tyres to gain three places.
He made some gains, picking off the struggling Zhou Guanyu, plus Kevin Magnussen who started on hards. But Hamilton was never happy on his soft tyres and was in as early as lap nine to get rid of them.
Even that wasn’t early enough for his liking as he complained Mercedes failed to bring him in before some medium-shod runners. Having dispensed with his softs he was back below where he started in 19th with everything still to do.
Hamilton’s race improved once he got onto the medium tyre and the Safety Car period came at a useful time for him to make his second pit stop. He went on to finish ninth, losing a place to Alonso with seven laps to go.
Alonso had to overtake Hamilton because he was forced to make a pit stop after the Safety Car period. Few drivers did this, and Alonso was the only points-scorer to do so, thanks to a more successful stint on softs than Hamilton enjoyed.
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He started the race from third place on the medium tyre compound and got away well, immediately passing Sergio Perez for second. But as the sprint race showed, Aston Martin couldn’t keep their tyres alive well enough over a stint, and Alonso quickly succumbed to the inevitable, letting Perez back through. Lando Norris took the Aston Martin at the hairpin three laps later.
An early switch to hards meant Alonso almost certainly needed a second pit stop. His only remaining fresh tyres were a set of softs and a set of mediums, neither of which were sufficient to get him to the finish when the Safety Car was deployed.
He therefore took a set of soft tyres and used them well, passing Carlos Sainz Jnr in the brief…
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