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Tomorrow should be dry with
temperatures lower than last week’s Austrian Grand Prix. The fastest
strategy for the 71-lap race is still expected to be a one-stopper, but with
a slightly different look to last Sunday: where the soft tyre in particular
proved to be very competitive. So the theoretically quickest way tomorrow is
to start on the soft tyre for 28 to 33 laps and then complete the race on
the hard compound.
The second-quickest strategy is to start on the medium tyre for 30 to 35
laps, then switch to the soft until the end. This strategy could be reversed
as well, starting instead on the soft and finishing on the medium for the
final stint.
Almost as quick is a one-stopper with a start on the medium tyre for 24 to
30 laps, then hard to the finish.
Finally, a two-stopper is definitely slower: two stints on the soft tyre for
24 to 26 laps each, then medium to the end.
FOCUS ON:
Weather. Wet weather cancelled FP3 and then delayed the start of qualifying,
with the Cinturato Blue full wets used by all the drivers from start to
finish. Tomorrow’s dry race means that the drivers will also have to rely on
the data accumulated during Friday to formulate the strategy, as well as
last week’s race.
Qualifying strategy. The drivers have three sets of full wet tyres for the
entire weekend, so they had to judge the strategy carefully: with some
reserving a new set for the final run in Q3.
Cinturato Blue full wet. Many of the drivers completed long runs to take
advantage of the rapidly-changing track conditions (with just 20 degrees of
track temperature in Q3) and benefit from the consistency of the full wet
tyre. Despite the difficulty of the conditions, there were very few mistakes
seen.
Race strategy. As qualifying was wet, the drivers have a free choice of
slick tyres to start the race on tomorrow.
Top speeds. Despite the torrential rain and low visibility, top speeds still
peaked at nearly 300kph on the straight, with Hamilton’s fastest lap
averaging just under 200kph. |
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MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING
“It wasn’t an easy qualifying session for the drivers, with no FP3 and their
first experience of these 2020 cars on wet tyres in qualifying, leading to
some interesting surprises on the grid. In these unpredictable and extreme
conditions, the teams and drivers had to adapt quickly to the changing
circumstances. With qualifying being wet, the usual rule that the top 10
have to start the race on their Q2 tyre doesn’t apply – so everyone has a
free choice tomorrow, which should open up a few different possibilities for
strategy.” |
