Verstappen faces strategy disadvantage already with Russell in Canada?

16:44, 15 Jun

byKada Sarkozi

While they will start from the first row of the grid, Max Verstappen and George Russell do have to deal with a possible strategy disadvantage at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

In qualifying, many drivers opted to complete laps on medium tyres instead of the C6 soft tyres. As a result, both Verstappen and Russell do not have a new set of medium tyres available to them for the Canadian Grand Prix.

On the other hand, the two Ferraris and the two McLarens do have a fresh set of mediums available to them.

The frontrunners have no new soft tyres at their disposal, but they all have two fresh hard tyres as well, other than Russell. The pole sitter only has a single hard as well, therefore, if there is a two-stop, he will have to use a set of already used tyres.

Available tyres for the drivers at the Canadian Grand Prix.

Pirelli share possible strategies

The Italian tyre manufacturer also shared the possible strategies the teams could select in Montreal. According to them, a two-stop strategy seems to be the fastest, as out of the four possibilities, there a single one with only a one-stop.

In terms of the two-stops, either drivers use two set of hards, or two set of medium tyres, depending on what they expect to work better.

The four strategies given by Pirelli are as follows:

- Option 1: medium – hard – hard

- Option 2: medium – hard – medium

- Option 3: soft – hard – hard

- Option 4: medium – hard