Pirelli rise to the challenge of the Portuguese roller coaster

· Grip: even though the track was entirely resurfaced in 2020, it still has little chemical grip which translates into rather low levels of traction. Softer compounds can offer greater grip, harder ones are more protected from wear and could therefore be preferred over race distances. · Elevation gain: the nickname ‘roller coaster’ is not accidental because the Portuguese circuit has truly notable height differences with a gradient that can reach 12% downhill and 6% uphill. Not infrequently, at the peak of some bumps, the motorbikes wheelie or even jump with both tyres off the ground. · Braking: strong lateral and even longitudinal loads are present due to sudden braking. There are ten braking points along the track, which particularly affect the front tyre which is called upon to enter the corner quickly and precisely. Among the most difficult braking points is Turn 1 where you reach the end of the long main straight (almost 1000 metres) at high speed and after a bump, so strong braking is required: the front is particularly stressed because it has to cover many metres while leaning and braking at the same time. Other challenging curves are Turn 5, a counter-slope left hairpin downhill and curves 10-11 which can put the front of the bike into crisis. · Tyre temperature: the rears go from corners where they reach very high temperatures on the shoulder to others where the leaning shoulder is very cold. In general, the right side is the one most stressed by high temperatures. The most challenging part is the last turn: due to the large turning radius the machine is constantly accelerating. With high travel times and fixed lean angles, significant temperature peaks are recorded on the right shoulder of the tyre. On the contrary, turns 3, 5, 8, 11 and 13 have a smaller radius of curvature in which the rider must brake to a very low speed. Once halfway through the corner, the bike requires strong longitudinal acceleration from the rear tyre, which is very cold. The tyres are particularly cold especially when entering the two slow left-hand turns, numbers 5 and 13.