2019 Australian GP – Pirelli expects one stop strategy

The Italian tyre manufacturer and official F1 tyre supplier Pirelli is not expecting changes in the number of pitstops for the first 2019 Formula 1 race in Australia as they believe that most of the drivers will have only one tyre change.

The Albert Park track is one of the less demanding when it comes to tyre wear and stress due to lack of long and fast corners while the only really fast corner is the fast chicane at the start of the final sector.

The track surface is not too abrasive and in combination with the track configuration with predominantly medium speed and slow speed short duration corners tyre wear is very low.

Pirelli has nominated the C2, C3 and C4 compounds as the hard, medium and soft choices respectively under this year’s simpler new tyre rules, with only three colours – white, yellow and red – at each grand prix.

Being a street circuit, the track is particularly green and slippery at the start of the weekend, with bumps adding to the lack of grip. There aren’t that many long corners, which means that it’s not always easy to bring tyres up to temperature.

A one-stop strategy was the winning choice last year – used by the majority of drivers – and although we need to see degradation rates from free practice, this is likely to be the case again.

Last four Australian GPs were won with only one stop while the last race won with more than one stop was 2014 Australian GP when Nico Rosberg won with two stops in laps 12 and 38

There’s a high likelihood of a safety car in Melbourne, which affects strategy: one of the reasons why pole position isn’t as crucial in Australia as it can be at other races. The pole position driver has only won once in the last five year.

Weather is often a mixed bag, helping to make Melbourne one of the more unpredictable races of the year. Forecasts so far suggest it will be cloudy but dry.

2019 F1 PIRELLI TYRE COMPOUND CHOICE

2019 AUSTRALIAN GP – SELECTED SETS PER DRIVER