Pirelli expecting 3 – 4 pit stop strategies at the Malaysian Grand Prix – Formula 1 news
The lone tyre suppliers of the 2011 Formula 1 season Pirelli are expecting that the teams will opt for 3 – 4 pit stop strategies at the upcoming Malaysian Grand Prix that is scheduled to take place this weekend.
The motorsport director of Pirelli Paul Hembery has recently stated that the teams will go for at least 2 pit stops for the track in Sepang which is going to be quite different as compared to the season opening race in Albert Park in Melbourne, Australia
Sergio Perez of team Sauber managed to finish the race using a one pit stop strategy which surprised Pirelli as they did not even expect anyone to pull such a feat off.
The new tyres introduced by Pirelli degrade very quickly and they were expecting a 3 – 4 pit stop strategy at the Australian Grand Prix as well.
Nevertheless, Hembery believes that the new tyres were spot on at the Australian Grand Prix and he is expecting much better results at Sepang.
“We were absolutely thrilled by our grand prix debut in Australia. But we're aware that Malaysia should be a very different proposition, with higher temperatures and increased degradation. We said all along that we would be seeing two to three pit stops
in Australia, but in Malaysia I think that figure is likely to increase to three to four,” said Hembery.
He confirmed that the teams would be allocated two sets of tyres for the Friday free practice sessions and also confirmed that one of those sets is going to be an experimental hard compound which might be used for the upcoming Turkish Grand Prix.
“They say that it's never a question of if it rains at Sepang but when, so the performance of our wet tyres could be crucial this weekend and we're certainly looking forward to seeing them out on track,” he added.
It is going to be interesting to see what the teams come up with as far as their pit stop strategies are concerned for the Malaysian Grand Prix. Let’s hope it turns out to be nothing less than a thriller.
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