ESPN looks at the potential strategy options for the Singapore Grand Prix
Tyre strategy will be crucial at the Singapore Grand Prix and looks likely to be varied after the top three teams saved different tyre allocations for Sunday's race. Historically, the appearance of the safety car has added an extra challenge for teams to deal with and safe guarding against its appearance will be built into each strategy. As on all street circuits, track position will be crucial and that may mean teams do not adopt the fastest theoretical strategy in terms of race time in order to make sure they are ahead of their opposition after each round of pit stops.
Based on data from Friday practice, Pirelli has put forward the following possible race strategies.
QUICKEST
Three-stopper: 3 stints on ultrasoft of 15 laps each + 1 stint on supersoft of 16 laps
SECOND-QUICKEST
Two-stopper: 1 stint on soft of 27 laps + 1 stint on supersoft of 18 laps + 1 stint on ultrasoft of 16 laps
Or (but only with new sets of ultrasoft)
Two-stopper: 1 stint on soft of 27 laps + 2 stints on ultrasoft of 17 laps
SLOWEST
Two-stopper: 1 stint on soft of 30 laps + 2 stints on ultrasoft of 15 laps
Different permutations of compound usage within each strategy are possible.
With that in mind, here are the tyres the teams have carried through to the race from qualifying. Note that Mercedes has stocked up on two sets of fresh soft tyres for both drivers while Red Bull and Ferrari have opted to prioritise the super-softs for their strategies. All of the top ten will start the race on the ultra-softs apart from the Red Bulls, which opted to use the super-softs in Q2 and will there for start the race on that compound.
Tyres available to each driver for tomorrow's @F1NightRace... pic.twitter.com/zdUmqxRTwv
— ESPN F1 (@ESPNF1) September 17, 2016