Pirelli motorsport boss Paul Hembery is hoping warm weather will ensure this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix is a two-stop race.
The Canadian Grand Prix took place in relatively cool conditions and saw the majority of teams opt for one-stop strategies in the race despite the soft and supersoft compounds having been nominated. With Hembery admitting the softer compounds are still proving too hard this year, he's wary that similar conditions in Austria would lead to another one-stopper.
“Austria ends the run of soft and supersoft nominations that we see towards the middle of the season, on quite a diverse variety of tracks," Hembery said. "The tyre strategy will depend on some extent to the weather: if it is warm we are more likely to see two stops, whereas if it’s cool the balance might shift towards a one-stopper.
"Rain is also a distinct possibility in Styria at this time of year, as we saw during free practice last season, so the teams will basically have to be prepared for everything."
And Hembery reiterates Pirelli's potential plans to make changes to certain compound nominations later in the year.
"This year, the drivers head to the Red Bull Ring with real data about the track for the first time, which will help them find the most efficient way to use the tyres.
"Obviously our aim is always to have between two and three stops at every race, so this is something that we will monitor carefully in future when it comes to nominations: we do have the possibility to make some minor changes if required. We’re only expecting a small time gap between the two compounds in Austria, so this opens up a number of different possibilities as to how to run the race strategy.”
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