Monday, March 28, 2011 Thrilling Racing at Pirelli’s Debut in Australia
 Pirelli’s first race of its three-year agreement to supply Formula One has provided close competition, two to three pit stops per car, and a total race time that was three minutes quicker than last year, underlining the performance of the PZero tyres.
This year’s PZero tyres have been designed to combine technology with entertainment, contributing some breathtaking duels from the start to the finish of the Australian race and plenty of overtaking.
Prior to the race, Pirelli predicted two to three pit stops for most runners, and this proved to be exactly the case. Eleven of the 16 classified finishers, including race winner Sebastian Vettel, stopped twice, with five finishers stopping three times and one driver – 21-year-old rookie Sergio Perez – stopping only once en route to seventh place.
The podium finishers, from three different teams, all stopped twice. All the top three finishers started the race on soft option tires and ended it on the harder prime, having completed their first two stints on the option tires. This turned out to be the most effective strategy in Albert Park, which has unique circuit characteristics, as it is only a semi-permanent facility.
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