Barcelona will be a two-stopper - Pirelli

Just as was the case last year, Pirelli's Paul Hembery is predicting a two stop strategy for this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix.

The manufacturer will allocate hard and medium compound rubber in Barcelona with an estimated gap between the two evaluated at 1.2 seconds. The start of the European season typically sees the introduction of important upgrades so it will be interesting to see how any eventual changes will interact with the tyres.

"Spain is obviously one of the more familiar venues that we go to, as there has already been plenty of data gathered during testing," Hembery said. "One of the things we have noticed so far is that this year Barcelona will once again be a front-limited circuit, from a tyre perspective, thanks to the improvements we made to the rear tyre construction this year."

Barcelona weather, in the case of extreme heat, may also play a part in strategy although Paul Hemberyi still expects the majority of competitors to race on a two-stop strategy.

Speaking to Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat, Pirelli's racing boss revealed the manufacturer's intention to favour soft-compound tyre choices as the current season progresses. This would represent somewhat of a departure from the conservative approach employed by Pirelli since the introduction of the 'hybrid' power unit era in Formula 1, and a move which could stir things up on the strategy front.

"We aim to bring the softer compounds (to races) more and more," Hembery said,"and in particular we want to be using the super-soft. Maybe we should have taken that tyre to Bahrain as it would have meant a three-stop race."

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