Pirelli motorsport boss Mario Isola has revealed teams are simulating the potential impact of making two-stop races mandatory in Formula 1.
With fans and drivers alike frustrated over the current tyre conservation that goes on to meet engineers’ prefered strategy of completing just a single stop, the idea of making two the minimum has been touted to try and take that phase away.
While that would likely allow drivers to push more during races…
“I’m not sure it’s the right solution because there is the big risk that everybody stops on the same lap, or very close, so basically you are just generating shorter stints,” Isola told RaceFans.
“They can use the softest available compound because the stints are shorter but there is no variation in the strategies.”
Rather than just rule out the idea totally, however, work is being done to completely evaluate the possible scenarios that could evolve from two-stop races.
“This doesn’t mean that it is a worse situation. It could be good, we don’t know,” he said. “We asked the teams to make some simulations to understand how they can react to a change of regulation.
“For me that’s an important point. Any time there is an idea before trying to implement the idea it is very useful that we go back to the teams and we tell them to try to make a simulation with these rules and see what happens.
“This is because sometimes we believe that we have a very good idea and we discover it is not.”
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Another tyre rule which has been in focus is the requirement for drivers in the top 10 to use the set on which they posted their Q2 time on at the start of the race.
Under this regulation, top teams have tried to get through on harder compounds for better strategic options and some midfield teams haven’t run at all to keep the free choice but an attempt to remove it was blocked.
Even so: “If we go a bit more conservative in the [compound] selection I think that in qualifying there is no reason to try to use the medium, the one in the middle, instead of the softest because the advantage is probably less,” the Pirelli chief noted.
Isola concluded by confirming at this point no further changes to tyre-related regulations are expected for 2019.