My goal in this post is not to defend lando norris (I simply don’t care about him), but do people know that the point of race engineers is to help the drivers drive faster? Like listen to a full radio and see just how much input the engineers have on different corners and whatnot. It has been a long time in f1 since so much of the lap time was not dependent on dash settings and ideal entries and exists. When other drivers say things like “why are we slow” or “how are we losing to the other car” that is literally them asking the engineers to help them drive faster. It’s almost like your engineer helping you is how the sport works <3
It confuses me how the Ferrari pitwall get completely clowned on all the time for their litany of stupid, careless and frankly ridiculous strategy calls yet the Mclaran pitwall have been on par so many times, losing Lando so many wins and podiums but nobody ever seems to pick up on that. Especially as the Mclaren Pitwall don’t just make terrible calls but are complicit and produce horrific emotional ab*se and manipulation of their driver.
Examples: Silverstone 2024, Qatar 2024, Hungary 2024, Sochi 2021 to name a few…
Also I feel like the media and fans moved on from Hungary too quickly, the treatment was disgusting and inhumane and I know this sport isn’t exactly known for morals but still?
It makes me wonder if Mclaren had been not just a midfield team for so long (pretty much until know the entirety of Lando's career) maybe it would of been picked up on more because I think people care/notice less if a win isn’t at stake, also how much do you think the drivers that are affected by this plays into the media backlash because I think that the horrific hate for Lando has probably influenced on how its was overlooked so quickly.
I know the Head of the Strategy team is going to be different this season but it worries me about how he already seems to have a clear bias towards Oscar?? That was already rampant in the last season (even though Lando performed incredibly even with what felt like the team actively working against him sometimes).
This is a circuit where a two stop is almost always the fastest strategy because of the high tyre wear and moderate tyre degradation.
The mediums appear to be the best race tyre and as such most drivers will probably start on the mediums. As the temperatures are likely to stay on the lower side, this makes the hard tyres difficult to warm up which could result in teams minimising their use.
All the tyres
Medium -> Hard -> Soft
(Pit 1: L16 - L:23, Pit 2: L35 - L41)
Fastest but riskiest
Medium -> Medium -> Soft
(Pit 1: L22 - L28, Pit 2: L36 - L42)
Hard tyre sandwich
Medium -> Hard -> Medium
(Pit 1: L14 - L22, Pit 2: L32 - L39)
Risky one stop
Medium -> Hard
(Pit: L21 - L27)
There is also a potential chance of rain as well as some strong winds expected.
It’s looking like it’ll likely be a two stop for most of the grid.
These are some of the strategies we may see
Medium -> Hard -> Hard (Pit 1: L17-L23, Pit 2: L42-L47)
Medium -> Hard -> Medium (Pit 1: L17-L23, Pit 2: L47-L52)
Medium -> Hard -> Soft (Pit 1: L17-L23, Pit 2: L48-L54)
Both Ferrari drivers only have one set of hards so if they two stop they’d do medium -> hard -> medium.
The mediums are the best starting tyre, especially on high fuel, although I could see some drivers, particularly those starting further back choosing to start on hards and trying to extend their first stint.
A one stop is possible, so long as the driver can suitably extend their first stint, it would need to be at least 40 laps on the hards or 30 on the mediums but it is possible, especially if a team decides to split their strategy between their two cars.
Hamilton, Verstappen, Bottas and Sainz are all starting on the mediums as that was the tyre that they set their fastest Q2 lap on but even still it’ll likely be a two stop for most of the grid because of the high tyre wear.
It looks as though there’ll be a lot of management to make a one stop work and it likely wouldn’t be successful.
Because teams were trying to get as much varied running in practice, no driver has two sets of hard tyres available and this could make strategy interesting.
There are 3 main strategies I could see teams going with, which are:
1) Medium -> Hard -> Medium
(Pit 1: L16 - L23, Pit 2: L37 - L42)
2) Soft -> Medium -> Medium
(Pit 1: L13 - L18, Pit 2: L34 - L39)
3) Soft -> Hard -> Medium
(Pit 1: L13 - L18, Pit 2: L36 - L41)
I’ll put who might do what strategy under the cut
Strategy 1 is likely what’ll be used by the 4 drivers in the top 10 who start on mediums as well as those outside the top 10.
Strategy 2, both Gasly and Norris have the available tyre sets to make strategy 2 work, it could also be a bit of a left field choice for some of the drivers outside of the top 10 who should be higher.
Strategy 3 is the likely choice for Tsunoda, Alonso, Ocon and Vettel as they only have one set of new mediums available.
There is a risky strategy 4 for drivers outside of the top 10 if they want to gamble starting on hards and trying to extend their first stint to around 35 laps, then switching to the mediums. This could be a good choice for Ricciardo, Leclerc and Perez
We didn’t need any additional drama this weekend and Pirelli seemed to know that as we potentially have the most boring tyre strategies.
Because of the wet qualifying everyone has a free tyre choice which would usually make things interesting but Sochi is typically a track with low tyre degradation.
The ideal strategies are:
Mediums -> Hards (pit L17 - L22)
Hards -> Mediums (pit L27 - L34)
Some possible alternatives are:
Soft -> Hard (pit L12 - L17)
Medium -> Hard -> Medium (pit 1 L15 - L20, pit 2 L35 - L40)
There is also still potentially some rain expected which could make things interesting.
So because everyone gets a free tyre choice it’s harder to predict the strategy choices for this race.
I’d assume that it’s most likely going to be a one stop for everyone as about 21 seconds is lost taking a pit stop (12 if it’s taken under a safety car), with Monza being a short lap, this time in the pits can have a significant affect.
The main choices are either going to be:
Soft -> Medium (pit L15 - L20)
Medium -> Soft (pit L27 - L33)
However some may go with a slightly more alternative strategy to try to gain an advantage.
Medium -> Hard (pit L17 - L25)
Soft -> Hard (pit L12 - L17)
Pitting early could cause some problems, especially if the car comes out into traffic in the midfield but the undercut is usually the preferred strategy in Monza regardless, as long as teams can find a gap to release the car into.
A 2 stop is a potential option, especially if there’s a safety car or red flag and both Mercedes have 2 sets of new soft tyres, whilst the Red Bulls don’t, however teams can use their used soft tyres as it’s likely that they only did a lap or two in quali and still work.
