Pirelli: In the sprint some tyres were worn to 100%.

      This weekend Pirelli limited the maximum stint length — for safety reasons no more than 25 laps may be completed on a single set of tyres — and those concerns were confirmed in Saturday's sprint…

      Mario Isola, head of Pirelli's motorsport division: "The only difference in tyre choice for the Saturday sprint was that, depending on qualifying results, new or scuffed tyres could be used. Three drivers made a pit stop in the sprint to try the Soft tyres, likely to assess the possibility of using them in Sunday's Grand Prix.

      As in last year, we saw some tyres worn to 100% due to graining, but without losing their performance. These cases, noted mainly on the front-left tyre, are the reason we reduced the maximum distance per set to 25 laps.

      Significantly faster lap times compared not only with last year but also with simulator calculations led to a greater-than-expected increase in tyre loads. As a precaution, late on Friday we instructed teams to increase the minimum pressure by 1 psi on both axles.

      On Saturday we noticed several cuts to the tyres, but fewer than on Friday. Two pit stops, expected on Sunday, should mitigate this issue. The Medium sets saved by the teams indicate that most of them will be able to do two stints on them.

      Using Hard tyres at the start of the race or between two Medium stints would allow pit stops to be more evenly distributed, but in theory this is slower than a strategy that uses all three available compounds with Softs on the final stint.

      The Medium–Hard–Soft strategy is the second-fastest, with pit-stop laps identical to the quickest Medium–Medium–Soft strategy. If no safety car comes out on track, teams will most likely make full use of the 25 laps allowed for each set."