According to the calculations of Formula One’s sole tyre supplier Pirelli, the one-stop strategy will be the fastest way tomorrow to complete the 53-lap Italian Grand Prix.
Pirelli brought the middle of its range to Monza with the C2, C3 and C4 compounds being available at the Temple of Speed. Despite the high temperatures, all compounds have performed so far as expected.
With 31 degrees ambient and 46 degrees of track temperature during the qualifying session, tyres were tested excessively today. Although similar hot conditions are expected tomorrow, the Milan-based tyre supplier thinks that the one-stop strategy will be the fastest option to cover the race distance of 306kms.
Based on the long run simulations on Friday, Pirelli estimates that the fastest strategy for the 53-lap Italian Grand Prix is a one-stopper, starting on soft and going onto Yellow medium after 24 laps.
The second-quickest way is still a one-stopper, but this time using soft for 22 laps and then White hard for 31 laps.
A strategy version that provides a wider pit stop window involves the medium for 26 laps and the hard for 27 laps. As always, this can work just as well the other way round.
Pirelli thinks that a two-stop strategy is significantly slower than any versions of the one-stopper. Should someone commit himself to a two-stop strategy, the best way to do it would be two 16-lap stints on the soft and a 21-lap run on the medium.
Pirelli’s Head of F1 and car racing Mario Isola reiterated the calculations of his engineering, predicting a one-stop strategy for Round 8 of the curtailed 2020 F1 season.
“Everything went very smoothly from a tyre point of view. Tomorrow should be a one-stop race but there are different variations of one-stoppers that can be applied, opening several strategic possibilities. The top 10 will all start on the soft tyre tomorrow, levelling up the playing field, so it will be interesting to see how many drivers from P11 downwards decide to try something different by starting on the medium or hard in what are expected to be warm conditions.
„Mercedes was the only team to run the medium in qualifying, which otherwise featured the soft from start to finish, but the harder compounds are set to play an important role in the race. Once more, we saw another track record comprehensively broken this weekend – but this one is particularly significant, as it’s on the fastest circuit of them all, and our home race,” he concluded.
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