Formula 1 teams have been left facing some difficult strategy choices for the Brazilian Grand Prix as a host of elements have come together to make things extremely complicated.
A combination of the new track surface, the timing of the sprint race, Pirelli’s selections for this weekend and uncertainty over the weather have created a perfect storm where the best route forward is not clear right now.
Of particular concern is the fact that teams cannot be sure which combination of tyres they need to keep back for Sunday’s grand prix, because the picture from the opening day of running has not offered a firm answer about degradation and wear levels.
The newly-resurfaced Interlagos circuit seems to offer some decent grip levels, but degradation levels were far from clear because of the huge fluctuations in track temperature caused by the new black asphalt.
Opening practice took place with the track nudging the mid-50Cs, and that opened the door for the tyres to be punished quite a lot, especially when the appearance of graining also contributed to some excessive wear.
As Williams driver Alex Albon said: “It’s unbelievable degradation here. This track is made out of sandpaper, so it will make it interesting.”
However, things seem more settled down in the late afternoon when sprint qualifying took place, as track temperatures dropped into the 40Cs.
But teams will be aware that Saturday’s sprint takes place at 11am local time on Saturday, when track temps will likely be in the upper region.
So, with Pirelli having selected the most aggressive of its tyre compounds for this weekend, and the soft being pretty much a single lap tyre so not suitable for the sprint duration, that will likely nudge teams to having to use a medium or hard on Saturday.
The difficulty with that though is that teams are very tight on the number of sets that they have left.
After sprint qualifying, all the top teams are in the same boat, in having two new hards available, then one new and two used mediums.
|
Driver |
Hard |
Medium |
Soft |
|||
|
New |
Used |
New |
Used |
New |
Used |
|
|
#1 Verstappen |
2 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
2 |
|
#11 Pérez |
2 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
5 |
1 |
|
#63 Russell |
2 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
2 |
|
#44 Hamilton |
2 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
6 |
0 |
|
#16 Leclerc |
2 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
2 |
|
#55 Sainz |
2 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
2 |
|
#81 Piastri |
2 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
2 |
|
#4 Norris |
2 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
2 |
|
#18 Stroll |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
5 |
1 |
|
#14… |
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