Pirelli’s motorsport boss Paul Hembery, believes the top teams will be forced to use a set of new soft tyres to ensure they make it out of qualifying one (Q1) and into the second shoot-out.
Usually the top teams can get away with using the prime or harder compound in the first session as only the bottom three teams and a wildcard usually exit at the first hurdle, but Pirelli predicts a two second difference between the soft and hard, which could see a slower car making it through to Q2 if the top teams opt to run the harder compound.
“There is a huge difference in time, around two seconds,” said Hembery. “It is going to make for an interesting challenge.”
The difference could also make it hard for some drivers to qualify within the 107% regulation if the top teams use quick rubber in the first session.
However, Hembery says Pirelli must experiment now that the championship is over, to gain valuable knowledge and data for next season.
“We’ve said all along that now the championships have been won, some of these things that we are doing are trying to look at preparation for next year.
“We have two phases of the race; we have the qualifying and then we have the race itself. And we are trying to understand what teams do when there are big gaps, small gaps, or when there is reduced wear like in Korea where we went with the super soft and the soft.
“It is very hard from our point of view to try and plan ahead without the ability to test a lot. It is only in racing conditions that we get a good understanding of how they are going to behave.”
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