Four clean sweeps for Verstappen

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

 “When the top six on the grid take the chequered flag in the very same order, it’s easy to characterise the race as boring. While I wouldn’t go so far as to say we witnessed the most thrilling show in the sport’s history, there was still some close racing. You only have to look at the top three, separated by just 44 thousandths in qualifying and then finishing within two seconds of each other in the race.

“After a fairly cautious first part, especially through the first sector, the most demanding from a tyre perspective, in the second part, all the drivers pushed all the way to the end. In fact, 14 of the 20 drivers set their fastest lap in the final five laps. It’s worth noting that Antonelli’s time of 1’30”965 was 2”741 quicker than last year’s fastest race lap, set by Verstappen, which shows just how much the performance has improved compared to 2024.

“On a track where thermal degradation has traditionally played a major role, today we saw virtually no drop in lap time performance with the Hard and Medium compounds, even over long stints. That was down to the low ambient and track temperatures, actually the lowest recorded at Suzuka since 2011. The other contributory factor is the improvements brought to the 2025 tyre range, specifically aimed at reducing this type of wear. Another of our technical objectives was to limit graining and today, even with these low temperatures, we saw almost no signs of this issue across the field.”