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 automobile quantity 63, confirming the group’s sturdy kind seen in america. Within the second row, the 2 McLaren drivers are positioned, sensing that the Constructors’ Championship is changing into extra inside attain, partly attributable to Ferrari not being at their greatest however nonetheless hoping to get better 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 word). Nonetheless, they had been unable to determine a big hole over the competitors, which stayed shut all through the race. Given this, and the difficult tire administration on a monitor that locations a whole lot of stress on the compounds, the race is anticipated to be unpredictable in its last final result.
Earlier than diving into the main points of strategic predictions, let’s check out the tire decisions made by Pirelli for the twenty third spherical of the 2024 World Championship. Not like Las Vegas, the place the softer compounds had been launched, Pirelli has introduced the toughest tires of their vary: C1 laborious, C2 medium, and C3 mushy. Let’s instantly have a look at the tire units obtainable to the drivers.
Qatar GP 2024 – Technique: Single Cease Anticipated to Be Useful
It needs to be famous that predicting group methods this 12 months has been notably tough. 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 outdoors of the corners, resulting in tires getting reduce. This prompted a multi-stop technique final 12 months.
This 12 months, the problem has been resolved, and Pirelli’s engineers anticipate that the very best tactic will likely be a single cease, beginning with the medium tire, which ought to final between 19 and 25 laps, adopted by a change to the laborious tire to complete the race.
Apart from the curbs, Pirelli’s chief engineer Simone Berra highlighted that the general grip stage this 12 months is larger 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.
After all, there’s little knowledge on the laborious tire, a compound not used throughout the Dash Race and solely seen briefly throughout Friday’s sole observe session. The efficiency of this compound would be the deciding issue: if it performs nicely, a single cease will likely be viable; in any other case, various methods similar to a two-stop plan with two laborious tire stints after an preliminary medium stint could also be used.
There’s little expectation of using the mushy C3 tire, a compound that will 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 obtainable), it’s unlikely that anybody will use it, particularly since overtaking at Losail is tough, and having to get better positions can be very disadvantageous.
The race will likely be held below the climate circumstances noticed within the previous days, with temperatures not too excessive however winds that would trigger points, with gusts anticipated at as much as 40 kilometers per hour. The drivers might want to handle these circumstances, particularly by medium- to high-speed corners.
Moreover, the wind tends to convey desert sand onto the monitor, which doesn’t assist preserve supreme asphalt circumstances. This presents one other small problem, an extra variable to think about within the tough equation that’s the 2024 Qatar Grand Prix.
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