Formula 1’s sole tyre supplier Pirelli suggests the Belgian Grand Prix is likely to be a one-stop affair for the seventh round of the 2020 World Championship at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps.
Lewis Hamilton dominated the previous race in Spain at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with a solid two-stop strategy, leading Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas across the line.
The threat of rain around the Spa-Francorchamps circuit remains likely over the course of the day, the local climate around the Ardennes forest can cause localised showers to bubble up at any time.
Hamilton, Bottas and Verstappen will start the race on the Medium tyre after passing the Q2 barrier on that compound.
Those who did not make it through to Q3 will have a free choice of starting tyres for the 44-lap Grand Prix.
According to Pirelli should the race remain dry, the fastest way to get to the end is a one-stop strategy by starting on the Soft tyres and crossing over to the Mediums on lap 18.
The Italian manufacturer also suggests the opposite would also have a the same effect.
The second-quickest way to attack the race is a different one-stop option, this would be to run with the Soft for 16 laps and then to switch to the Hard for 28 laps.
A two-stop strategy is also feasible to run two stints on the Soft tyres for 14 laps and the remaining 16 laps on the Mediums.
The slowest strategy is to begin on the Mediums and run for 20 laps before swapping over to the Hard compound.
Pirelli suggests all of the above strategies are very close in terms of overall race time and that it would be down to individual race circumstances within the race.
“There were only a few drops of rain, and on the P Zero Red soft tyres – one step softer than the softest compound we brought to Spa last year – Lewis Hamilton broke the all-time Spa lap record four times during qualifying, including once on the medium tyre,” said Mario Isola, Head of F1 and Car Racing.
“The fact that the top seven on the grid are all faster than last year’s pole underlines the impressive evolution of the cars since last year. We’ve seen some divergence in strategies already, with the top three cars on the grid starting the race on the medium tyre.
“This will make for a particularly interesting first stint, those on the medium should be able to go longer, but the drivers on soft will have a speed advantage that could be considerable in the early stages.
“While the teams will always be planning their strategies carefully, Spa is a race where tactics often have to react to changing circumstances, which could well be the case with uncertain weather predicted.”
