Even though the one-pitstop era in Formula 1 seemed to have stopped once Pirelli had designed these new highly degradable tires for the 2011 series, the Mexican rookie nurtured his compounds so well throughout the race that his performance shut down the Pirelli critics in the paddock.
“Not bad for a pay-driver, right?” sounded the ironic reaction of Sauber's team manager Beat Zehnder after the race, according to Germany's Auto Motor und Sport.
Needless to say, the very Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery addressed the situation, admitting that he didn't think a one-pitstop startegy was possible in any race. While revealing his surprise, he reckoned we won't see many such performances in the future.
“We were all looking and saying 'He (Perez) has to stop, surely'. We actually thought the numbers were wrong and we had missed a stop,” said Hembery after the race. “His driving style was a key factor, as well as his car. But I would be surprised if we see it again.”
Ferrari's Felipe Massa, who was one of the many drivers who tackled the Australian race with a 3-pitstop strategy, admitted that considering a one-pitstop race prior to the Sunday action would have been unthinkable.
“The rear tires degrade quickly and certainly for us to do a one-stop strategy like Perez would have been unthinkable,” he told Italy's Gazzetta dello Sport.
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