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POSSIBLE RACE STRATEGIES:
* Calculating the tyre gap and optimal race strategies for the 63-lap
Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix hasn’t been easy, as the teams don’t have previous
experience of the track and there was only one (90-minute) free practice
session this morning. This free practice session was also held from
10:00-11:30, which means that it won’t be completely representative of the
warmer afternoon conditions for the race.
* Currently, there’s a gap of around 0.5 seconds between the P Zero White
hard and and P Zero Yellow medium, and 0.6 seconds between the medium and P
Zero Red soft.
* In terms of strategy, a one-stopper looks set to be fastest. The optimal
one-stop strategy uses the medium and soft tyres: soft for 28 to 30 laps and
medium for 33 to 35 laps (either way round). * Very close to that is a soft
to hard strategy: soft for 24 to 27 laps and hard for 36 to 39 laps (or vice
versa).
* Third-quickest is medium for 26 to 35 laps and hard for 28 to 37 laps.
This strategy has the advantage of featuring a wider pit stop window.
* A two-stop strategy is slower, but the best one is with two stints on soft
of 18 laps, plus one stint on medium of 27 laps.
FOCUS ON:
Strategy. Both Mercedes cars as well as the Red Bull of Max Verstappen set
their best Q2 times on the medium tyre, and will consequently start the race
on this compound.
Track temperatures. Qualifying began with 23 degrees ambient and nearly 30
degrees of track temperature. Similar conditions are expected for the race
but none of the drivers have completed long runs in representative
conditions.
Pit stops. With a comparative lack of pre-race data from the single practice
session, initial information suggests that the overall race time between a
one-stop and two-stop strategy could be reasonably close. As a result, we’re
likely to see both one-stoppers as well as two-stoppers tomorrow, as teams
try to gain a tactical advantage from doing something different.
Track evolution. With only one day of running prior to the race and only few
support events, the track was very ‘green’ initially. There was plenty of
evolution today and a similar trend is expected tomorrow. |
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MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING
“The teams were able to capture most of the tyre data they needed from the
single 90-minute practice session, sometimes by splitting the tyre
assessment programmes over their two cars. There is still considerably less
tyre data than there would be from a ‘conventional’ weekend, which leaves
some question marks over strategy heading into the race and opens up some
more options tomorrow, especially with the track evolving all the time. The
teams will have a busier Saturday evening than usual analysing the
performance gaps between the tyres, and working out how this can translate
into an optimal race strategy. As for the tyres, we had a little bit of
graining during the early part of the day, but the situation improved as
expected with more running. All three compounds look set to play an
important role in the race and we are satisfied with their performance.” |
