It has been a huge criticism so far in 2018 but fans could be set for yet another one-stop race in Paul Ricard on Sunday. The Pirelli rubber has held up fairly well so far this weekend and all signs seem to point that only a single stop is the way to go come race day.
Carlos Sainz suggested after Friday practice that a one-stop strategy would be likely for most driver and teams having seen that degradation of tyres hadn't been too serious.
“I don’t want to be pessimistic but a one-stop is maybe even more on the cards now we have done the long runs. But you know on Sunday things can change, things get a bit more critical when you start pushing a bit more.”
Not only does tyre degradation point to a one-stop on Sunday, a decision made on Friday to lower the speed limit in the pitlane to 60kph could lead more teams to choose to make fewer stops than originally planned.