By Carlo Platella
In Montreal George Russell starts from pole position and will try to score the first victory of the season for Mercedes, with Max Verstappen’s Red Bull ready to lurk. The McLarens of Norris and Piastri in the second row are also dreaming, while the ascent of the two Ferraris, who will start from eleventh and twelfth position, promises to be more difficult. Nothing is precluded however, because there are many unknowns preceding the race, as he explains to FormulaPassion Simone Berra, Chief Engineer of Pirelli.
Without data
The Canadian weekend was characterized by variable weather, with the rain canceling a good part of Friday’s free practice, limiting the race pace simulations. For this reason, the development of strategies becomes more complex than usual, both for the teams and for Pirelli. “They are processed starting from the data we had pre-event and from the history”, explains Berra. “In this case we are even more disadvantaged because the asphalt is completely new compared to last year, with slightly different characteristics. It’s not completely different in terms of roughness, it’s very smooth, but aWe collected less data than we would have liked. We collected more data on Saturday especially on the medium, but no information on the hard.”
“Everything is a little more uncertain, let’s put it that way”explains the Pirelli Chief Engineer. “You have less certainties because you have fewer points of reference. The track is still not in optimal conditions in terms of grip and cleanliness in general. It has rained a lot these days, so tomorrow we expect a track that will be quite green at the start and which will then slowly evolve. If the race were completely dry there would be a significant evolution and we know that this has an influence. If, however, there were to be further showers of rain, as the weather forecast currently says, then it is clear that everything would be further mixed up.”
Big wear
The evolution of the track is therefore the first big unknown on the eve of the race, to which is added greater than expected wear: “Pre-event we expected that the single stop would be the fastest and that the degradation would be much more manageable. In reality we saw that the thermal degradation is relatively low, but still a little higher than what we expected on Wednesday or Thursday before going out on track. Instead it is above all the level of graining that is very accentuated, generated by slipping due to lack of grip. We saw a lot of slow motion of cars sliding on all four wheels, which is something quite unusual in a Formula 1.”.
“This generates abrasions, graining in fact, which tends to wear the rubber more than it normally would”continues Berra. “For this reason, looking at the data from Saturday morning, we see that the wear life of the average tire is practically halved compared to what we expected pre-wind. It pushes us to say that single parking is very marginal on paper. Doing medium-hard, which was the strategy we said was fastest on paper initially, currently requires a level of management or a level of ability to clean up significant graining.”
Towards the two stops
Although a single pit stop cannot be ruled out, the most probable scenario remains that of a double stop. Berra continues: “Someone will definitely try to do the single stop, but it’s no longer as clear as we expected before the race. Instead we see the two stops much better, always starting on medium and then doing two stints on hard. For those who only have one set of hard tires and two medium ones, the alternative is obviously medium-hard-medium, with the medium in the last stint where the track is perhaps more rubberised”.
However, the strategies will also be affected by the third and final variable, that linked to unexpected events, above all the risk of rain and neutralisations. Berra concludes: “Safety Cars have an important influence, we also saw it last year, which is why the windows for stops will be very linked to any safety cars, virtual safety cars or accidents. The race is certainly interesting from a strategic point of view, because there could be different philosophies and approaches, to which the unknown of the weather is added. It’s a circuit where you can overtake if you want if you have a relatively faster pace than the car in front, so there are the conditions for an interesting grand prix.”
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