Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMercedes

New tyre rules produced thrilling race - Lowe

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Mercedes technical director Paddy Lowe has highlighted the availability of a third tyre choice as the main factor in Sunday's thrilling Australian GP.

This season, teams are awarded a choice of three different compounds at each race while only two choices were on offer last year.

In Melbourne, teams and drivers chose a diversity of strategies, with eight drivers using all three available compounds - mediums, softs and supersofts - in the race.

"Having three compounds in the race, which was a change we promoted from the middle of last year as being something that would add uncertainty and excitement to the race, I think we've seen that play out really well," Lowe told Fox Sports.

"You've got somebody on an old medium, and someone else on a brand new supersoft. It's fantastic. And we've also pushed the spectacle of qualifying up, because we're effectively a compound softer for qualifying.

"As we saw on Saturday we were 2.5 seconds quicker, some of that's development, some of that's the tyre."

Lowe also explained that Mercedes experience of Pirelli's medium compound, which the team used to great success in the second part of Sunday's race, was an unintended consequence of pre-season testing.

"It was simply mileage. We had a target to do 6000 kilometers, on a medium you can get about 100 kilometers, on a soft you get about 30 kilometers.

"With the fixed quota we were given, we had to take all mediums, apart from four sets of softs and three sets of wets.

"We'd rather have had more tyres from Pirelli, and then we would have added a lot more softs into the mix.

Mercedes actually ran the supersoft rubber on its W07 for the first time in last Saturday's free practice session.

"We first ran the supersoft in FP3. That's the first-ever run of it on this car. The times weren't startling, but they picked up when we got into qualifying."

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Phillip van Osten

Motor racing was a backdrop from the outset in Phillip van Osten's life. Born in Southern California, Phillip grew up with the sights and sounds of fast cars thanks to his father, Dick van Osten, an editor and writer for Auto Speed and Sport and Motor Trend. Phillip's passion for racing grew even more when his family moved to Europe and he became acquainted with the extraordinary world of Grand Prix racing. He was an early contributor to the monthly French F1i Magazine, often providing a historic or business perspective on Formula 1's affairs. In 2012, he co-authored along with fellow journalist Pierre Van Vliet the English-language adaptation of a limited edition book devoted to the great Belgian driver Jacky Ickx. He also authored "The American Legacy in Formula 1", a book which recounts the trials and tribulations of American drivers in Grand Prix racing. Phillip is also a commentator for Belgian broadcaster Be.TV for the US Indycar series.