F1: Canadian GP Possible Race Strategies

Pirelli has published what they feel are the best tire strategies for today’s Canadian GP.

We suspect polesitter Max Verstappen will start the race on the Medium tires, but Fernando Alonso beside him, or Lewis Hamilton behind him, may opt to start on the soft Pirellis in an effort to beat Verstappen to turn 1.

Pirelli motorsports boss Mario Isola had this to say about strategy, and he thinks the soft Pirellis may come into play during the race.

“Yesterday’s weather forecast predicted rain for today, and it proved to be accurate. It meant we could see both the Intermediate and the new Full Wet tires in action, after we had got a taste of the latter towards the end of the Monaco Grand Prix. As for the Intermediates, we saw that their operating window is still very wide, given the competitive times set with them in Q1 when the track was practically dry. The Full Wet, which in this new specification does not require preheating, worked as expected without any evidence of temperature management issues right from the start of their use.

“Dry track conditions are expected tomorrow, but clearly all the rain that has fallen so far has effectively led to a degree of reset in terms of the track surface conditions. As for strategy, this could make a two stop race look even more competitive, starting with the Mediums and then switching to Softs for the next two stints. A one stop, starting on Hard and switching to Medium, could be the choice for those starting from the second half of the grid, as it would allow them to have greater flexibility to deal with any eventualities, especially on this track where the Safety Car has often been called on to do plenty of laps.”

Because of the rain on Saturday, all the drivers have plenty of dry weather tires available to choose from.