With the F1 area having returned to motion after its well-deserved summer time break, F1Technical’s senior author Balazs Szabo delivers some key information concerning Pirelli’s daring tyre selection for this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix.
The compounds – For the race within the Netherlands, Pirelli has gone a step softer when it comes to compounds than final 12 months. The groups could have a selection of the C2 as Laborious, the C3 as Medium and the C4 as Smooth, whereas in 2024 the accessible compounds had been C1, C2 and C3.
However wait, what’s the rationale for the softer tyre choice? The Milan-based tyre provider has the goal of accelerating the probability of a technique primarily based on two stops, somewhat than simply the one-stop, which has been the predominant selection since this race returned to the calendar in 2022.
Larger pit lane velocity restrict – The FIA has elected to extend the pit lane velocity restrict from 60 to 80 km/h, thus decreasing the time taken for a pit cease which ought to present drivers with additional motivation to ponder a few two-stop technique.
Pirelli has revealed that the one-stop continues to be quickest – based on simulations offered by the groups -, partly as a result of overtaking is notoriously tough at Zandvoort, with only a few straights other than the principle one, mixed with the actual fact the entire observe is sort of slim.
Earlier information – As for final 12 months, 16 drivers lined up on the grid on the Medium tyre, whereas three – Lewis Hamilton, Yuki Tsunoda and Valtteri Bottas – went for the Smooth, with Kevin Magnussen ranging from the pit lane on Hards.
Three quarters of the sphere made only one cease throughout the race, taking up the Laborious because the second set, whereas Magnussen went with the Medium. The Mercedes pair pitted twice – Hamilton used two units of C3 and George Russell one – whereas the remaining three, Tsunoda, Bottas and Zhou, ran all three accessible compounds, with Alex Albon selecting to run Medium, Laborious, Medium.
Stint size – Pirelli’s option to deliver softer tyres for this 12 months’s Zandvoort race isn’t a surprise contemplating the stint size finally 12 months’s Dutch Grand Prix.
Hulkenberg drove the longest stint of all, finishing 57 laps on the Laborious. Piastri topped the record with the Medium on 33 laps, whereas Hamilton ran 24 on the Smooth.
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