MOTOR SPORT: CHINESE GP:FORGET ABOUT Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and the rest. Forget even the adjustable rear wing and Kers which have transformed Formula One. The most important feature of the race game this season is getting to grips with the tyres.

Pirelli took over from Bridgestone this year with the brief to make highly degradable rubber and increase the number of pit stops. Australia was an anti-climax but in Malaysia the rubber melted and teams made two, three and sometimes four stops.

It was mayhem in the pitlane but there was also plenty of drama. And the most successful teams got their tyre changes down to just two and a half seconds. On the heavy-breaking Shanghai circuit tomorrow tyres will once again be the major topic of conversation as teams devise different strategies and hope those will not be shredded as frequently as their rubber was in Malaysia.

Paul Hembery, Pirelli’s motorsport director, said yesterday: “So far I’m very pleased with the way that our tyres have helped the show, but I’m always impressed by the way that the teams and drivers learn so quickly.

“The input we had was to produce two or three stops. Four is maybe one too many; two to three, depending on the circuit, seems about right. We have accurately predicted two pit stops in Australia and three in Malaysia but we’ll have to wait before having a completely clear idea of what to expect in China.”

There are four tyre compounds for dry weather: supersoft, soft, medium and hard. Of these, only two can be used per race and in China the choice is once again soft and hard.

“Melbourne was not a surprise because it was always known as a difficult circuit for overtaking,” Hembery said. “Sepang being a much wider, open circuit gave them more than 30 overtaking manoeuvres so it was an exciting race considering it wasn’t wet. Often you get an interesting race in Sepang when the heavens open up.”

At Shanghai tomorrow, Hembery is predicting the soft tyres will last 13 laps and the hard tyres 20. But he is expecting teams to become more refined with their strategies and to reduce the number of stops. As they design their cars better, and their drivers show more sensitivity for their wheels, the aim will be to cut the number of stops down to one.

Hamilton, for one, will be hoping to avoid his problems in Malaysia, where he had a spat with his team after he had to go into the pits four times and complained about how quickly the tyres degraded.

“The tyres have to wear,” said Hembery. “It still needs a lot of skill because if you get it wrong you’re back to a one-stop strategy. We’ve got 20 different circuits, 12 types of chassis and 24 different drivers, so there are a lot of variables in there. You can see the difference between drivers and the difference between chassis, so there are elements out of our control.”

Ferrari’s Alonso believes the drivers have got used to the different performance of the tyres in the opening two races.

“In Australia people did two stops and even one stop, which was a surprise,” he said. “In Malaysia we were ready for two, (not) for three, for four, we saw some different strategies from different teams. And now I think the racing will be better because we know the tyres. We are all more ready.”

Some are not convinced. The seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher said: “After Australia and Malaysia, once again we have a very different type of circuit at Shanghai, so it’s still going to be a steep learning curve.

“In terms of tyre wear, Shanghai should be more forgiving than Malaysia, with temperatures generally a lot lower and the surface smoother. In general the performance of the Pirelli tyres is good, but learning how to control the window during which they are at their best is the big challenge.”

But for Hembery the big success story has not come from the major teams, Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren. He gives top marks to Sauber, whose Sergio Perez managed to complete the opening race of the season in Melbourne making just one stop.

“Sauber have most impressed me so far. It was very interesting how they managed that one-stop strategy. And Sauber is generally using the tyres very well, with their set-up, balance, weight distribution, the loads on the tyres, and driving style.

“It’s the full combination.”

Guardian Service