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GP3 needs softer tyres to boost overtaking, says Dennis

Jake Dennis has urged GP3 organisers to bring softer tyres to future races in order to boost overtaking after two season opening races that featured little passing.

Charles Leclerc, ART Grand Prix, Jake Hughes, DAMS at the start

Charles Leclerc, ART Grand Prix, Jake Hughes, DAMS at the start

GP3 Series Media Service

Jake Dennis, Arden International
Alexander Albon, ART Grand Prix leads Oscar Tunjo, Jenzer Motorsport
Tatiana Calderon, Arden International
Jake Dennis, Arden International
Alexander Albon, ART Grand Prix leads Oscar Tunjo, Jenzer Motorsport and the rest of the field at the start of the race
Tatiana Calderon, Arden International
Tatiana Calderon, Arden International
Tatiana Calderon, Arden International

Pirelli chose to take the hardest compound in its range to Barcelona, resulting in little tyre degradation in a pair of largely processional races.

Neither race, the first ones for the series' new Dallara GP3/16, featured any overtaking moves inside the top 10 after the second lap.

Dennis, who came away from the two races seventh in the points after a best finish of fourth in the second encounter, told Motorsport.com: “You just could not overtake, and I'm not sure why.

“It was worse than Formula 3, and I didn’t think there could be a worse class for that!

“You couldn’t do anything coming out of the last chicane, the car in front pulled away so much and you pulled away so much from the car behind."

The 20-year-old Brit, who switched from F3 to GP3 this year, added: “When it’s that bad, I think we need something else.

"Maybe we need DRS, but that would take about a year of development [before it could be implemented], so they need to give us softer tyres.

“They brought the hard compound here, which was the medium of last year, and this year’s medium is last year’s soft. So we’re one step harder.”

Calderon wants more aero freedom

Tatiana Calderon, who came away from her debut GP3 weekend with no points after suffering a clutch mapping problem at the start of Race 1, echoed her Arden teammate Dennis’ calls for softer rubber.

She also said organisers should allow teams and drivers to set their aerodynamics with more freedom in order to promote passing.

“It was amazing that the tyres went off so slowly, so your pace was totally dictated by the car you were following,” the Colombian told Motorsport.com.

“First of all, the tyre was a bit too hard, and then the aero – you have to run a certain level of aero, which makes it even more difficult for anyone to overtake.

“They should open it up, because that would help mix things up. In F3, you could go with lower downforce to try to pass along the straights, but here you had to run what they tell you to.”

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