Everything is ready for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, which sees Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen sprinting together on the front row. “Tomorrow tire management will be decisive”, the prediction of the world champion. Thermal degradation, at the center of the teams’ concerns for most of the season, takes a backseat to the Nevadan. The main limiting factor appears to be graining, making it probable a race focused on double pit stops. Simone Berra, Pirelli Chief Engineer, illustrates the possible strategies for the third Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Engineer Berra, what strategies are expected in the race?
“Compared to what we expected on the eve of the match, the teams are doing well towards the use of harder compounds. The soft cannot be completely excluded a priori, but it suffers more from degradation, as well as having a lower mechanical resistance to graining. With the track not yet in stable conditions, not being perfectly rubberized, the soft tire will be avoided in the first part of the race. It could be an option in the second half when the track will have more rubber and the grip level will be sufficient to reduce sliding and graining. The medium and hard have proven to have a little more mechanical resistance, especially the hard. Some teams kept both sets of hard tires for the race, while those who have tried it have already seen that it is more consistent, suffers less from graining and allows you to push more, managing less.”
“On paper, the single stop and the double pit stop are very close in terms of strategies, there isn’t a big difference. Currently, given the track conditions and the high level of graining, we expect that it could be a two-stop race. In fact, several teams kept the two sets of hard tires available. We believe that a medium-hard-hard strategy is slightly faster than medium-hard-medium, but both are very close. We imagine the single stop as medium-hard. Then there is a double stop option which also involves using the soft, doing medium-hard-soft, therefore reserving it for the last stint of the race. We don’t expect many laps on the soft: 10-15 passes at most. For the rest windows however, we expect the first lap to be between the 10th and 17th, with the second expected between the 30th and 37th lap. In the event of a single pit stop, the tire change would take place between the 17th and 23rd lap, but it would mean doing a good average stint in the first part of the race with a lot of graining.”
Given the low temperatures and the difficulty in warming up the tire immediately, will stopping early to implement the undercut actually be advantageous?
“We expect it to be less powerful here than on other tracks, especially when we go on the harder compounds in the second part of the race. The hard tire takes a few laps to reach temperature and the circuit design certainly doesn’t help the tire warm up. However, the undercut remains a tool, because if degradation is high, having new tire still ensures a significant advantage. I would not rule out a priori that the undercut is not useful. However, this can be one of those tracks where if one manages the tire correctly during the stint, then when the car in front stops he could still have it and overcut”.
There is a lot of talk about graining. Is thermal degradation still a limiting factor?
“It takes a little more into the background. It is however linked to graining. Having graining means losing grip, therefore sliding a lot and this leads to overheating. Compared to other races, however, overheating does not reach the heart of the tire, but is limited to the superficial part. The limiting factor is more the mechanical degradation, which does not allow for a uniform distribution of the tire’s contact patch on the ground, affecting the level of grip”.
Does tire management mainly affect the rear axle?
“It’s not just about the rear axle. The front needs to be managed differently than in other races, in the sense that it needs to be kept at temperature, that’s the critical issue. With high wear during the race, there is a risk of losing temperature, increasing the risk of lockouts. This is especially true on the straight: on the Strip the front tire cools down to 35 to 40°C, 5°C more than on the Baku straight. The front must be kept at temperature, while the rear must be managed in the opposite direction. It must be managed especially in the traction phases exiting slow corners, such as 1, 3, 4, 9 and 12. We have seen many riders slide a lot in those points, generating overheating, which generates graining which in turn triggers the slide. It is a self-sustaining circle, but both axes must be managed.”
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
2023-11-19 04:55:43
#Las #Vegas #Pirelli #strategies #overcut #race
