After the interlude in Mexico, Formula 1 returns to a track with high tire degradation, announcing a particularly eventful race on a strategic level. The number of stops will also depend on any Safety Cars, often protagonists in past editions. However, the strategies for the Brazilian Grand Prix have already begun in recent days, with some teams keeping an extra set of new soft tyres. Simone BerraChief Engineer of Pirelli, explains why the choice could yield an important advantage in the race.
Engineer. Berra, what strategies can we expect for the Grand Prix?
“Nothing particularly different to what we saw in 2022. We will have asphalt conditions very close to last year in terms of temperature. We’re talking about 45°C, maybe we could reach 50°C at the start of the race, then during the session we should go down. In free practice we saw that the hard tire has little grip and tends to slip, causing a lot of overheating. In general, the performance is not at the level of medium and soft, compared to which it offers no benefit. It is a particular circuit, which due to its design and type of asphalt favors softer compoundswhile the grip tends to be lacking on the harder ones.”
“In the Sprint we saw a fairly consistent soft. In the race we expect greater use of the soft tire. We predict a two-stop strategy, starting with the soft, moving to the medium and then closing again on the soft. As pit-stop windows we estimate lap 17-23 for the first stop and lap 46-52 for the second. There is an alternative, which is to use two sets of medium in the first stints and then finish with the soft. In this scenario the pit stop window is slightly delayed: lap 20-26 for the first stop, lap 48-64 for the second. On paper it’s a slightly slower strategy. We have seen that the medium does not guarantee a great advantage over the soft in terms of degradation and tends to slip, although not as much as the hard. This obviously generates overheating and lack of grip. The soft therefore seems to be the teams’ favorite compound for this weekend.”
“As a possible option there is also a triple stop, which on paper is only three seconds slower. It would be a matter of starting on the soft, then taking advantage of the medium and playing the last two stages on the soft. The stints are obviously shorter: 13th-18th lap for the first stop, 33rd-40th for the second and 50-56th lap for the last. It might be a more aggressive strategy for those who want to push from the start. We don’t rule it out a priori: last year someone tried it and if there were a Safety Car or Virtual Safety Car it could be rewarding. We also mention the medium-hard one-stop strategy, but on paper it is ten seconds slower.”
Is the undercut powerful in Sao Paulo?
“Yes, because the degradation is high anyway. Even in past years we have seen that stopping one or two laps early allows you to overtake the cars in front. Obviously you have to be careful not to overdo it and not to push too much in the first laps in an attempt to undercut, and then suffer during the stint.”
Some riders kept an extra set of new soft tires. Why does it make such a difference in the race compared to a tire that ends up completing just one flying lap in qualifying?
“The tire however undergoes a thermal cycle in qualifying, which causes a loss of performance. Compared to the previous 13-inch product, the performance is now more recoverable in terms of compound grip. The problem, however, is that some circuits like Brazil are quite aggressive from a thermal point of view and the operating window is exceeded, causing overheating. The mixture tends to lose some grip properties and it is no longer possible to recover performance.”
“During a very hard qualifying lap the surface temperatures are exceeded and the compound loses performance. When you reuse that set it’s as if the compound was harder, with less performance. During the Sprint the AlphaTauri were a good example, with very good pace on new rubber compared to those on a used set. I expect that today those with new tires will have an important advantage over those who have used them, especially on the soft.”
Why is it in Brazil for the first time since Bahrain that the pressure requirements on both axles are lower than the last edition?
“In the first part of the year we still had the old structure, with which in the first races we were higher and more conservative with the pressure. In any case our prescriptions depend on the teams’ simulations. At this circuit for the first time we received simulations in which the teams expected to be slower than last year, both in terms of load and top speed. We’re talking about 3-4 tenths more per lap. This influenced the choice of lower pressures. In reality the teams were slightly faster than last year, especially on Friday before the track reset. From the actual load and speed data, however, we have not exceeded the critical threshold and we have decided to continue with the initial requirements”.
#Brazil #Pirelli #strategies #soft #big #advantage