The 57 laps of the race scheduled for today on the Sakhir circuit will answer many questions. On the 'strategy' front, however, there don't seem to be any major doubts, the choices of the teams that will start in the top positions appear quite obvious.
There is one variable that differentiates the two Red Bulls from Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren and Aston Martin, and it is the choice of new sets preserved for the race. Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez saved a set of softs, deciding to use a set of hards in FP3, and everything suggests that (as in 2023) the world champion team will start with a set of new softs and then move on to hard and conclude in the third stint with one of the soft sets used in qualifying.
Max, what advantage will you have in the race?
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
The Red Bull strategy presents only one risk, should the safety car come onto the track around lap 30. In that case the alternative will be to use a set of mediums, a compound that has so far been discarded by all teams. For the other top teams the choice to cover the 57 laps of the race will be soft-hard-hard. According to Pirelli's simulations, with this availability of tires, the first pit stop is scheduled in the window between laps 11 and 16, while the second stop is between the 33rd and 39th lap. Red Bull will instead have to lengthen the first stint a bit with a stop scheduled between the 13th and 19th lap, switching to hard and fitting the final set of soft between the 37th and 43rd laps.
There is also the possibility that Red Bull decides to fit two sets of softs in sequence and then conclude the race with the hards, much will depend on the progress of the first stint, probably the most strategic part of the Grand Prix. Verstappen will try to exploit the advantage of the new soft set, and above all the good performance of Red Bull with the C3 compound, which was better in long runs than all its opponents.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24 leaves the pits
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
For Ferrari it will be very important to limit the damage in the first phase, then hoping for good competitiveness with the hard tires, as already seen in the tests. Both Leclerc and Sainz will have to contain the gap to Max but at the same time watch out for Mercedes, which appeared fast in the race simulations. Yesterday both Hamilton and Russell confirmed setup choices aimed very much at the race, another element that increases interest in view of the first race of the season.
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