F1 | Pirelli plans a one-stop strategy for the Imola GP

Possible single-stop strategy for the next Made in Italy and Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, the second round of this 2021 Formula 1 world championship. According to what Pirelli declared, the low wear of the compounds should lead the teams to make a single stop , this is to avoid wasting time in traffic (the Imola circuit, due to its shape, does not help overtaking).

The analysis

The 63 laps of the race will almost certainly be tackled with a single stop for most drivers, for three main reasons: firstly, it is difficult to overtake on this circuit; secondly, it takes a long time to travel the pit lane, almost 30 seconds, and finally the wear and degradation of the tires is reasonably low.

A two-stop strategy is certainly slower, so teams will try to avoid it if possible. Track position is as crucial as not being in traffic, so the timing of the pit stops will be crucial. Often you can gain an advantage by stopping earlier than your direct rivals, so the strategy selected must also take this into account.

Tomorrow morning a more detailed strategy forecast infographic will be distributed, with the compounds and distances for each stint. The 63 laps of the race will almost certainly be tackled with a single stop for most drivers, for three main reasons: firstly, it is difficult to overtake on this circuit; secondly, it takes a long time to travel the pit lane, almost 30 seconds, and finally the wear and degradation of the tires is reasonably low.

A two-stop strategy is certainly slower, so teams will try to avoid it if possible. Track position is as crucial as not being in traffic, so the timing of the pit stops will be crucial. You can often gain an advantage by stopping earlier than your direct rivals, so the strategy selected must also take this into account. Tomorrow morning a more detailed strategy forecast infographic will be distributed, with the compounds and distances for each stint.

* Qualifying strategy: a total of five cars used the P Zero Yellow medium tires in Q2, the session that determines the tires with which to start in the Top 10. The Mercedes drivers and Max Verstappen (Red Bull) chose this compound to create their best times. The two Williams drivers also used the medium in Q2, but did not qualify among the top 10. The other seven in the top 10 on the grid will start tomorrow on P Zero Red soft tyres. As usual, everyone else from P11 onwards has free choice on which tires to start with.

* With Hamilton starting from pole and Verstappen in third place, two of the top three will start on medium tires on the "clean" and rubberized side of the track: the other Red Bull, that of Sergio Perez, will start from second position on tires soft but on the “dirty” side of the track.

* Weather forecast. Although temperatures in Imola were consistently cool in free practice, today during qualifying those on the track became hotter to over 30 degrees centigrade. Similar conditions to Friday are expected tomorrow in addition to the risk of rain.

*Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time of the weekend so far (in his first run in Q3) while Lando Norris (McLaren) set a front-row time that was later canceled due to a track limit violation.

Mario Isola, Head of F1 and Car Racing at Pirelli

“All the tires selected for qualifying performed well today. As expected, we saw some of the riders in the front rows choosing to pass Q2 and therefore start on the medium tyre. This should allow them to run a longer opening stint and strategy with more flexibility. There are a number of question marks for tomorrow, including the weather, with the possibility of rain which could completely upset the planned strategies. If it stays dry, we have seen so far that all three compounds could play an important role in the race. Those who start on soft tires will not have a particular disadvantage compared to those who start on mediums because Imola is a circuit that is not particularly harsh on the tires and the temperatures should be quite cool."