Formula 1 tyre supplier Pirelli is expecting a one-stop strategy to be heavily favoured by drivers at the Russian Grand Prix.
Pirelli has brought the C2, C3 and C4 compounds as the Hard, Medium and Soft for the weekend’s action at the Sochi Autodrom.
The relatively low degradation, the long pit lane loss time, and the difficulty in overtaking, means teams have often favoured a one-stop approach at the event.
Pirelli believes a Soft/Hard approach, making a pit stop between laps 15 and 19 of the 53-lap grand prix, is likely to be the quickest approach.
It also expects a Medium/Hard strategy to be workable, with the slightly longer tyre life of the yellow-banded rubber meaning the first stint could be extended until lap 22.
It has outlined that a Soft/Medium strategy, which would necessitate the first stint to be extended to between 22 and 26 laps, is slightly slower.
Among the top teams there is divergence, with Ferrari opting for the Soft tyres and Mercedes electing to take the start on Mediums, owing to their respective Q2 compound choices.
The remainder of the Q3 runners will use Soft tyres for the opening stint of the grand prix while those outside of the top 10 have free choice from the respective compounds.
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