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Pirelli expecting one-stop strategy to be fastest for Belgian GP

12:45, 26 Aug 2018

byJake Williams-Smith

Pirelli expects a one-stop strategy to be the route most teams choose for the Belgian Grand Prix and say it is up to 15 seconds faster than any other strategy. The supersoft, soft and medium compound tyres are the tyres available to the teams for the 44 lap race.

Ahead of the race, Pirelli's head of motorsport Mario Isola predicted one-stop strategies up and down the field, with the top 10 switching from supersoft to soft tyres on lap 16, depending on track conditions at that point in the race.

“After a lot of uncertainty about the weather, the rain finally materialised at the end of Q2. In the end, the Cinturato Green intermediates proved to be the best option in Q3, with different levels of water on the track, which is quite typical of Spa.

"This made it very hard to judge the final qualifying runs, with the cars driving on the intermediates for the first time all weekend. The race, by contrast, seems more likely to be dry, in which case we can expect one pit stop for the majority of competitors, with the correct pace management.”

Lewis Hamilton lines up on pole for the race with title rival Sebastian Vettel alongside him in second position, the run to Les Combes on the opening few laps will surely be a mouth-watering prospect as the championship contenders do battle.

In behind the front two, Racing Point Force India will be hoping to keep their incredible qualifying positions of third and fourth, taking full advantage of the tricky conditions and mistakes from their rivals to lock out the second row of the grid.

Out of position Red Bull's, Kimi Raikkonen and Valtteri Bottas, who will start at the back of the grid due to power unit penalties, will all be looking to storm back through the field to the upper end of the points-paying positions.