17/07/2019
NEWS STORY
While the drivers have already made their tyres selections for next weekend's German Grand Prix, the performance of the hard tyre at Silverstone has shed a whole new light on the white banded rubber the drivers usually do their best to avoid.
Making his hards last 32 laps - though Pierre Gasly got 40 out of his - was one thing, but Lewis Hamilton posting a new lap record on the 32nd lap was something else.
At Hockenheim, once again the hards get short shrift from the drivers, most, including Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, the Bulls and Daniel Ricciardo opting for just one set, while the rest take two.
Renault and Toro Rosso take ten sets of the softs, while Ferrari takes nine and Mercedes and Red Bull eight apiece.
Hamilton and the Bulls take the most mediums (four sets) while Daniil Kvyat and Nico Hulkenberg take just one.
Last year the mediums, softs and ultrasofts were on offer, the German race only the second on the calendar - after China - that saw Pirelli skip a compound.
For a race that will be remembered for Sebastian Vettel going off track while leading, eventual race winner Hamilton ran a one-stop strategy, starting on the softs and then switching to the ultras.
However, the Briton was only one of three top-ten finishers who ran a one-stop strategy, the light rain shower that caused Vettel to go off, seeing Verstappen, Hulkenberg and Grosjean switch to Inters and then back to slicks, making three stops in all.
Bottas (2nd), Raikkonen (3rd) and Hartley (10th) made just two stops.