Teams have been practising pit stops throughout testing © Sutton Images
Pirelli has predicted between two and four pit stops per race depending on the team, driver and circuit.
Several teams have run race simulations this week at Barcelona with differing results, but typically three stops. Track temperatures have not been as high as they are expected to be at most races this year, with a peak of 30C on Thursday but cooler conditions before and since. Pirelli's motorsport director Paul Hembery said the one day of higher temperatures had provided some useful data but race strategy would still be fairly open.
"It's given us the right signals that when we do get the temperature we'll get closer to the data from our test results, which for us is fundamental," he told reporters in the Barcelona paddock. "We've seen some interesting race simulations, but the teams are obviously playing tactics because we've seen some comments that aren't matching some of the tactics and vice-a-versa. What we've seen is between a two and four stop strategy developing depending on the team."
He said the aim was for the hard compound to last 25 laps in good conditions while the soft is expected to do between 15 and 20 laps. At the first three races Pirelli will run the hard and soft compounds - rather than the medium and super-soft - but Hembery is still expecting the first race in Australia to throw up a few surprises.
"Melbourne is an interesting circuit from a tyre maintenance point of view - it's not an easy circuit that's for sure. We risk having quite high temperatures through to cold and rain, it's a bit like being back in England. So yes, that is going to be a new challenge.
"We would have loved to have had Bahrain because that would have been a good grounding for us in many ways, because Bahrain's quite an aggressive circuit for the compounds. We would have had the temperature and having had the test beforehand that would have provided us with a lot of data and information. So going to Melbourne after we've only been in the cold is quite a challenge, but that's part of the learning experience we are going to gain."
He said Pirelli would fulfil its target of providing multiple pit stops and exciting racing and added that he had not been approached by the teams with any major complaints.
"We do obviously listen to what the sport says, but bearing in mind our main contact with the sport is through the tyre working group which is part of the FOTA group - they haven't actually raised any issues," Hembery said. "As far as we're concerned we are delivering what we were asked to, which is to try and create multiple pit stops - two was what we were aiming for but we're probably looking at averaging three at the moment. But we will verify that as we go forward."
Laurence Edmondson is an assistant editor on ESPNF1
Credit: ESPN F1 (en.espnf1.com)
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