godlameroso wrote:Pole lap will be a high 1:21. Race pace will be around 1:27 for the leaders at the start and fastest race lap will be around 1:24. Last year was an easy one stopper, with the SS tires this year maybe a two stopper. The pit lane is pretty short here so it could work.
The big question is which is the better race tire soft or medium?
Ideal strategy will probably be SS SS M or S , I don't think starting on the soft will work unless you fail to make q3 because less tire wear and smaller qualifying delta will force everyone's hand.
Last year in FP1, Lewis did a 1:24.670 on Mediums and the next best car of Vettel's Ferrari did 1:26.258 on Mediums too. The final pole lap was 1:23.383 on Softs and the next best car of Kimi was 1:23.631. Essentially, Lewis did a pole lap in FP1 itself (had he bolted the Softs, because difference between Medium and Softs was/is around 1.2 seconds) !!! Because Nico had an engine failure, they turned Lewis engine down.