Qatar GP 2024, race technique – After securing pole place at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, George Russell as soon as once more begins on the entrance of the grid. In actuality, the quickest time was set by Max Verstappen, however a penalty promoted Mercedes’ W15 automotive quantity 63, confirming the workforce’s sturdy type seen in the US. Within the second row, the 2 McLaren drivers are positioned, sensing that the Constructors’ Championship is changing into extra inside attain, partly because of Ferrari not being at their finest however nonetheless hoping to recuperate with race tempo proven throughout the Dash Race.
The end result of the race is unsure, contemplating each the qualifying outcomes and, extra importantly, the Dash Race, which ended with a McLaren one-two end (Piastri forward of Norris, editor’s notice). Nevertheless, they have been unable to ascertain a big hole over the competitors, which stayed shut all through the race. Given this, and the difficult tire administration on a observe that locations a variety of stress on the compounds, the race is predicted to be unpredictable in its closing end result.
Earlier than diving into the main points of strategic predictions, let’s check out the tire selections made by Pirelli for the twenty third spherical of the 2024 World Championship. Not like Las Vegas, the place the softer compounds have been launched, Pirelli has introduced the toughest tires of their vary: C1 exhausting, C2 medium, and C3 comfortable. Let’s instantly have a look at the tire units accessible to the drivers.
Qatar GP 2024 – Technique: Single Cease Anticipated to Be Useful
It needs to be famous that predicting workforce methods this 12 months has been significantly troublesome. Tires have usually been a puzzle, resulting in techniques that diverged from what was anticipated on paper.
For the Losail Grand Prix, it is very important contemplate the resurfacing of the curbs, that are decrease than final 12 months when many tire points arose because of the sharp edges of the curbs positioned on the exterior of the corners, resulting in tires getting reduce. This prompted a multi-stop technique final 12 months.
This 12 months, the difficulty has been resolved, and Pirelli’s engineers anticipate that one of the best tactic shall be a single cease, beginning with the medium tire, which ought to final between 19 and 25 laps, adopted by a swap to the exhausting tire to complete the race.
Except for the curbs, Pirelli’s chief engineer Simone Berra highlighted that the general grip degree this 12 months is greater than final 12 months, stopping lateral sliding and untimely tire put on. The anticipated graining was lower than anticipated. This, mixed with decrease degradation, suggests {that a} single-stop technique would be the most advantageous.
In fact, there’s little knowledge on the exhausting tire, a compound not used throughout the Dash Race and solely seen briefly throughout Friday’s sole apply session. The efficiency of this compound would be the deciding issue: if it performs properly, a single cease shall be viable; in any other case, various methods comparable to a two-stop plan with two exhausting tire stints after an preliminary medium stint could also be used.
There’s little expectation of using the comfortable C3 tire, a compound that might result in extreme put on and fast efficiency degradation. Whereas a number of drivers have a number of units of this compound (Nico Hulkenberg, Franco Colapinto, and Esteban Ocon every have three accessible), it’s unlikely that anybody will use it, particularly since overtaking at Losail is troublesome, and having to recuperate positions can be very disadvantageous.
The race shall be held underneath the climate circumstances noticed within the previous days, with temperatures not too excessive however winds that might trigger points, with gusts anticipated at as much as 40 kilometers per hour. The drivers might want to handle these circumstances, particularly by way of medium- to high-speed corners.
Moreover, the wind tends to carry desert sand onto the observe, which doesn’t assist preserve ideally suited asphalt circumstances. This presents one other small problem, an extra variable to think about within the troublesome equation that’s the 2024 Qatar Grand Prix.
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