Strategy guide for the British Grand Prix

F1 Grand Prix, GP United Kingdom, Silverstone Circuit

Although teams usually tend to favour the one-stop strategy, Formula One’s tyre supplier Pirelli thinks that a two-stop strategy will be the fastest way to approach today’s British Grand Prix.

With Silverstone placing the highest energy demands on tyres all year, Pirelli has nominated the hardest tyres in the range for this weekend: C1 as the P Zero White hard, C2 as the P Zero Yellow medium, and C3 as the P Zero Red soft. This is the third time that this combination has been nominated all year.

Yesterday’s qualifying session saw Carlos Sainz take his very first pole position after a qualifying session run in rainy conditions from start to finish. Because of the wet conditions, the intermediate tyres proved to be the best tyre in the qualifying session with every driver opting for this rubber throughout the entire session.

With clouds hanging over the Silverstone circuit, the weather conditions remain unclear for today’s British Grand Prix. However, should the race take place in dry conditions, the quickest strategy is going to be a two-stopper, with a few different options on the table.

The P Zero Yellow medium is the tyre to start on, and the quickest strategy on paper is medium followed by P Zero White hard followed by medium. This has the advantage of ensuring that two different compounds are run earlier in the race, opening up strategic possibilities For those who don’t have a second set of mediums available, the strategy could be medium-hard-soft, which is also closely-matched – and could be converted to a one-stopper if needed.

The Milan-based manufacturer estimates that a one-stopper is possible but hard to manage: this would be medium to hard.

Pirelli’s Motorsport Director Mario Isola commented: “Even though the intermediate tyre was not designed to cope with aquaplaning situations, it coped very well with the conditions today, allowing the drivers to reach nearly 300kph in wet conditions with comparatively long stints as the surface dried out. This is a track that puts lots of energy through the tyres, allowing a dry line to emerge.

„In the dry conditions of FP3, most drivers ran the soft tyre, and we expect the medium to be the main race tyre tomorrow if conditions are dry – which is not entirely certain – with a two-stopper being the best strategy,” Isola concluded.