Carlos Sainz explains drivers have “many things to consider” in terms of tyre warmup in the opening stages of a stint with the current Pirelli tyres.
Tyre warmup and management have long been hotly discussed topics in Formula 1, with the narrow window of performance characteristic of the current spec of Pirelli tyres catching many drivers out on various occasions in both qualifying and the Grand Prix itself.
It has long been apparent that the opening laps on a new tyre set are key to managing the pace over the course of a stint.
Push too hard too soon, and you can overheat and degrade the tyres, losing pace and time as the stint goes on. Be a bit too conservative trying to undercut someone, your can be hurt. The balancing act is tricky.
Discussing the difficulty in correctly bringing tyres into their performance window, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz explains that the characteristics can change from race to race.
“It’s a very fine line,” Sainz explained when asked in Singapore. “Very tight method to apply. Also because depending on the tarmac, depending on the energy that you put into the circuits, depending on the circuits, it is more beneficial than others. You have to play a bit of Pirelli magic depending on the track layout and tarmac.
“Even the compounds. Some compounds are more sensitive to it than others. And you need to then put the strategy in perspective. Evaluate if it’s going to pay off to do it now or is the undercut or overcut too important right now to do that introduction.”
Expanding further on what he calls “Pirelli magic”, Sainz explained there are many other considerations during a race which drivers’ must acknowledge during a pit stop phase. He says the complexity of a racing situation makes it “very easy to misjudge” the opening phase of a stint.
“As a driver you have so many things to consider during those first three laps of the stint,” he said. “Whether you want to spend your coins on those laps or you want to spend them later in the race.
“It’s very easy to misjudge, because you never know what’s going to happen in the future and you might have wasted your coins on something that was not worth it.”
