GPl Archives 17 April Issue #67 | Page 74

Drivers had a choice of soft and medium on Sunday, with the soft degrading after barely a handful of laps. Button and Red Bull’s triple champion Sebastian Vettel qualified on the medium while the top seven on the grid all started on softs. Button was in the lead after 15 laps but ended up fifth at the finish while Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso won from third on the grid and pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton led but then dropped to third. With the new tyres, qualifying is no longer the crucial element it once was and the fastest car is no longer necessarily the winner. “The tyres are the dominating factor at the moment,” said Horner. “We are seeing that qualifying is paying less of a premium than trying to preserve the tyres... a quick car abuses the tyre more, and the tyres can’t cope with that. So obviously we have to adapt our approach and set up and the way that we operate the car to ensure we get more out of the tyres.” In Pirelli’s defence, the drivers’ mindset is also having an effect with the tyres confounding expectations. Whitmarsh said Button had been looking after his tyres in his second stint, assuming from experience that they would not otherwise last. “We then said step the pace up. Within three laps he was going two seconds a lap quicker and the tyres actually held in there. Upon reflection...he could have leant on them a lot heavier than his instinct (told him),” said the boss.