Mercedes and Ferrari left sweating over potential Canadian GP strategy errors

Stacks of new tyres sitting in the garage — Photo: © LAT Images

Canadian Grand Prix

Two top teams left sweating over potentially catastrophic Canadian GP strategy errors

Teams have opted to bring differing sets of tyres to the Canadian Grand Prix

Jack Walker

Sunday 18 June 2023 19:57

Mercedes and Ferrari both only have one set of new hard tyres for each of their drivers, leaving them short for the ‘best’ strategy for the Canadian Grand Prix.

Pirelli announced the medium-hard-hard two-stop will be the best strategy to go with for Sunday’s race.

Saturday’s wet sessions mean that all 10 teams have plenty of mediums and softs to spare, but Mercedes and Ferrari will be praying that the medium tyre runs longer than expected.

Article continues under video

Toto Wolff’s team have shown better pace than expected all weekend, whereas Fred Vasseur and co. need to step up their game if they are to have any chance of making up places.

Other potential strategies

There are a number of pit-stop strategies to choose from:

#CanadianGP 🇨🇦: It’s race day in Montreal! 🎉

With a dry track out, Pirelli predicts the fastest strategy to be a two-stopper: Medium-Hard-Hard. 🧵 pic.twitter.com/U8DVlQZ3QR
— deni (@fiagirly) June 18, 2023

The hard tyres’ longevity makes the medium-hard-hard strategy the best option, but medium-hard-medium, medium-hard, and hard-medium strategies may all be viable options for a number of drivers, especially if a safety car or red flag is called.

Why no soft tyre?

The soft tyre is not included in any of the above strategies because it simply does not hold any reward for the short-running pace advantage it gives drivers before falling off the ‘cliff’.

That is, unless a safety car or red flag is announced with around ten laps to go.

All 20 drivers have at least two sets of new soft tyres to choose from if needs must.

Here are the tyre sets available for each driver for today’s race#F1 #CanadianGP pic.twitter.com/zR93F5mNG9
— Fastest Pitstop (@FastestPitStop) June 18, 2023