ESPN looks at the potential strategy options for the Japanese Grand Prix
SUZUKA, Japan -- Suzuka is a notoriously difficult track to overtake on, meaning teams will look to their strategists to help their drivers move through the field. Unfortunately, the options appear to be quite limited, with just one mandatory tyre nominated for the race. The hard compound must be used, making the medium compound somewhat redundant as it doesn't offer much performance gain.
The lap time delta between a new set of softs and a new set of mediums is 1.5s and the delta between the medium and hards is less than a second. Of course, degradation levels are higher on the soft, but it still makes sense to maximise time on the fastest compound before switching to the mandatory hards for a single stint.
The possible pit-stop strategies predicted by Pirelli are as follows:
QUICKEST
Three-stopper: 3 stints on soft (12 laps on used tyres) + 1 stint on hard of 17 laps
SECOND-QUICKEST
Two-stopper: 2 stints on soft (15 laps on new tyres) + 1 stint on hard of 23 laps
SLOWEST
Two-stopper: 1 stint on soft (12 laps considering the set used) + 1 stint on medium of 20 laps + 1 stint on hard of 21 laps
Also possible
Two-stopper: 1 stint on soft (15 laps on new tyres) + 2 stints on hard of 21 laps
The Mercedes and Ferraris have saved a set of fresh softs for the race, while Red Bull has, intriguingly, save two sets of hards. Ferrari has no mediums whatsoever, which is unlikely to be a problem but may be an oversight if the medium - a lower working range tyre - offers better performance than expected because of the cooler conditions.
Pirelli reveals available tyre sets available for each driver at tomorrow's #JapaneseGP... pic.twitter.com/Xw6Dgaehhz
— ESPN F1 (@ESPNF1) October 8, 2016