The Final Stint: The F1 equivalent of a 0-0 draw

Stop the one-stops

In recent years, Formula One has relied on the Canadian Grand Prix to inject a dose excitement into the first half of the season. But last weekend it failed to live up to expectations. The most obvious reason was the absence of a Ferrari challenging Mercedes, but Sebastian Vettel's ECU problem in qualifying and Kimi Raikkonen's spin at the hairpin weren't the only reasons behind the dull race; tyre strategy also had a big part to play.

Both compounds showed minimal degradation throughout the weekend, making a one-stop strategy the obvious choice for all but the out-of-position Ferraris. The time lost making a pit stop in Canada is roughly 24 seconds - one of the quickest overall pit stop times on the calendar - yet the advantage of fresh tyres versus old tyres was nowhere near enough to encourage a second stop. The fastest lap of Nico Rosberg's first stint came on 28-lap-old super-soft tyres - a remarkable feat on the softest rubber in Pirelli's range and a sign that the tyres are too hard. In both stints the two Mercedes drivers maintained consistent lap times throughout, meaning the usual drop off in performance that tends to open up overtaking opportunities simply didn't occur. And all this on the circuit that provided the model for high-degradation racing back in 2010, which Pirelli was then asked to recreate when it first arrived as the sole tyre supplier in 2011.

The root of the issue is the more conservative approach Pirelli has adopted since it suffered multiple tyre failures at the 2013 British Grand Prix. Combined with a lack of tyre testing, the Italian manufacturer has been forced into a damned-if-it-does-damned-if-it-doesn't situation, which will ultimately lead to more one-stop races. Without the tyre degradation that has defined Pirelli's tenure in the sport, the difference in performance between cars is rarely enough to fashion overtaking manoeuvres. A single stop race also puts all of the cars in the top ten on the same strategy as they will invariably qualify, and therefore start, on the faster tyre before being forced to use the slower compound in the second stint. For Rosberg in Canada - as well as during the one-stop races in Australia and Monaco this year - the only chance of victory would come if team-mate Lewis Hamilton made a mistake.

On an inter-team level, the more conservative tyres tip the scales in favour of Mercedes versus the rest. The development of the W06 Hybrid has now reached the point that it is facing the same trade off between downforce and degradation that Red Bull so often complained about during its dominance at the end of the V8 era. Over one lap more downforce means a quicker time, but over multiple laps there is a critical point at which the level of downforce puts extra stress through the tyres and limits their life. At certain races - China being a prime example - Mercedes' race pace has been effectively capped by the Pirelli control tyre for fear of having to make an additional pit stop. The Ferrari, meanwhile, is easier on its tyres but has less overall downforce, which explains why it can often seem so distant in qualifying but a genuine challenger in the race.

Whether you are a fan of Pirelli tyres or not, you can't deny they have the potential to make or break a Sunday afternoon's TV viewing.
LE

"Lift and coast"

"It's now difficult to push the limit because if you push at the limit something will go into a less efficient mode and that will affect the total lap time. You just need to make sure everything is at 100% - not yourself."

Those turned out to be prophetic words from Fernando Alonso on Thursday in Canada. Three days later, the man widely regarded as the most complete driver of his generation was complaining that fuel saving was making him look like an amateur. A talent like Alonso struggling with an uncompetitive car is part of the sport; a talent like Alonso having to drive within himself just to make the end of the race is proof of something wrong.

Fuel saving was an unfortunate feature of Sunday's race at both ends of the grid. In the closing stages the crucial statistic for the FOM broadcast became the fuel consumption graph, and how much Nico Rosberg might have for a late challenge of Hamilton. A race between racing drivers had become one between a man managing his fuel and one managing his brakes. Even on the last lap, we heard Lewis Hamilton being told to lift and coast 100m ahead of a corner instead of 50m.

At the other end of the field, an exacerbated Jenson Button told McLaren "You won't believe how early I'm lifting off", while team-mate Alonso simply said "I don't want, I don't want" when told to fuel save after just 24 laps. In the end, McLaren found a different way of saving fuel by retiring both cars from the race. At a time when F1 is wondering why fans are being put off the sport in their droves, Canada highlighted something that needs to be looked at when the regulations are next overhauled.

Christian Horner summed it up perfectly: "Of course it's the wrong message. If you're a fan sitting at home, you don't want to hear that, you want to see the guys going flat out, racing each other, and I think it is something we need to take on board and react to. It sounds like coaching if they're telling them where to lift and how much to lift - [the engineers] might as well get in and do it!"
NS