09/07/2016
NEWS STORY
Just a week after Sebastian Vettel's tyre failure at Spielberg, which Pirelli has blamed on debris but was initially thought to be related to the long stint the German was on at the time, the Italian manufacturer has recommended limits on how may laps each particular compound should be run for.
"Pirelli recommends that the following numbers of laps are not exceeded on each compound," said the Italian manufacturer, subsequently giving the hards a maximum, of 26 laps, the mediums a limit of 28 and softs just 15 laps.
"The hard compound experienced some graining, which is why the useful life of this tyre is predicted to be less than that of the medium," added the manufacturer.
This is the first time that Pirelli has made such a suggestion, and one of the results, other than the obvious questions that will be asked about whether this is related to Vettel's Austrian failure, is that a wider number of strategies are now possible.
On this basis, the optimal pit-stop strategies predicted are; a two-stopper which would see two stints on soft of 12 laps each and one 28-lap stint on medium, a three-stopper featuring three stints on softs of 12 laps each and one 16-lap stint on medium, another two-stopper consisting of a 12-lap stint on soft, one 14-lap stint on new softs and one 26-lap stint on hard. Alternatively there is the possibility of one stint on softs of 12 laps and two 20-lap stints on medium.
Pointing out that "different permutations of compound usage within each strategy are possible", much like the small print in an insurance policy, Pirelli adds that "these indications do not represent or constitute a guaranteed minimum number of laps for each compound."
Adding: "It is the responsibility of each team to define its own race strategies based on its own wear data."
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