The grip provided by the ultrasoft tyres towards end of the 2018 Formula 1 German Grand Prix was alarming after Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton set the fastest lap of the race in those laps and it certainly surprised many including Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.
The Finn made the tyre change during the safety car period after his teammate’s crash. The second stop was absolutely required for Raikkonen after his first came on Lap 14. But his stop played into the hands of the two Mercedes drivers.
Hamilton was on a fresher set but not fresher than Valtteri Bottas and Raikkonen behind. However, the free air allowed him to pull up a gap as Bottas was asked to hold station and he kept Raikkonen behind as well.
The Finn though was surprised how much grip the ultrasoft tyres provided despite the conditions were not fully dry at Hockenheim. “In the past it’s been very difficult [for us] in that amount of rain and I was surprised overall how good the grip was,” he said.
“[Especially] because [there] was still some rain and it was pretty decent grip and the tyres were still cold but I think the ultrasoft worked pretty well in that rainy condition. Usually when you have that amount of rain it’s usually pretty slippery.
“It was slippery in some places but most of it was still…you had some grip. Quite a surprise overall from what I remember from the past. Usually it gets pretty slippery quickly.” Raikkonen also defended the call for making the second stop eventually.
The Finn was in a 50-50 space when the safety car came out. He had already lost a place to Bottas while lapping some cars and Hamilton was close behind as well. Both Bottas and Raikkonen dived into the pits as Hamilton stayed out.
Even though the pit stop didn’t hugely affect his results but had he stayed out, he might have had the track position leaving Hamilton to fight it out on those laps. However, with the grip the ultrasoft gave, it seems like it was the right call in the end.
“It’s always easy to say afterwards but honestly we don’t know what would happen if we [had] stay out,” he said. “I’m 100 percent sure that the ultras worked better plus I had very used tyres at that point already.
“But I can’t give an answer if it would have been just fine or a complete disaster, so that’s always an unknown and you try to weigh up the differences and hope that the new tyres will give you some grip to come back.
“Obviously we knew that the Mercedes will be on one of the some aged tyres but they seemed to be the right decision in those conditions so I don’t have an answer, I don’t think anybody would have an answer what the end result if we stayed out or not.
“Who knows. That’s how it goes.” Over at Mercedes, their strategist James Vowles said that the team were confident that the ultrasoft will do well even in the greasy conditions and that’s why they pitted Bottas for the same.
Like the front runners, behind Haas’ Romain Grosjean was also flying on his ultra soft tyres when he overtook as many as five cars to go from 11th to sixth in the end after his late pit stop.
[Read Also: Key statistics from the German GP]