Formula 1 tyre supplier Pirelli expects a one-stop strategy to be the favoured approach taken by drivers at the Chinese Grand Prix.
The Shanghai circuit is front-limited, with high degradation anticipated on Soft tyres, but the top five on the grid are all set to avoid using the red-banded rubber.
All four Mercedes and Ferrari drivers, along with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, will start on the Medium tyres after using the compound for their quickest Q2 efforts.
The remainder of the top 10 – Red Bull’s Pierre Gasly, Renault pair Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg, and Haas duo Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean – will use Softs for the start.
Those drivers in the lower half of the grid have free choice of starting compound.
Pirelli believes the quickest strategy for the 56-lap grand prix is to run a Soft/Hard tyre approach and pit after 18 laps.
It reckons the second-fastest approach is to go Medium/Hard and make a single stop on lap 19.
A potential alternative strategy is to run two 15-lap stints on Softs before taking on Hard tyres through to the chequered flag.
Pirelli described all three strategies as “quite close on paper” but cautioned that should higher-than-expected temperatures strike Shanghai on race day then higher degradation on Soft tyres could lead to an earlier stop.
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