F1 Miami Grand Prix: What are the technique choices?

MIAMI, Florida — Welcome to race day on the Formulation 1 Miami Grand Prix.

An interesting afternoon awaits followers each right here in Miami and around the globe. Max Verstappen discovered the “bits” he wanted to seize pole place forward of Lando Norris, that means we might see one other battle royale into Flip 1.

Lurking behind these two are the duo of Kimi Antonelli and Oscar Piastri, who had a scrap of their very own into Flip 1 in yesterday’s F1 Dash race.

However as all the time in F1, tires could inform the story. What are the potential tire methods for the 2025 Miami Grand Prix? Let’s dive in.

What occurred on the 2024 Miami Grand Prix?

Final season’s race was for essentially the most half a one-stop affair. Nearly all of the sphere began on the medium compound, which final yr was the C3, earlier than switching to the C2 laborious compound.

Tire put on was at a low a yr in the past, which created a giant window for pit stops. Sergio Pérez was the primary of the lead drivers to make his cease, coming into the pits on Lap 17. Norris, nevertheless, was nonetheless on the monitor on Lap 29 on his set of C3 tires, and he took benefit of a Security Automotive to make a pit cease underneath these situations and emerge because the race chief on a recent set of laborious tires.

Solely three drivers used the C4 tire a yr in the past, which was the smooth compound. However as we are going to see in a second, with Pirelli going a step softer this yr, that’s the medium compound for as we speak’s race.

What are the technique choices for 2025?

This yr Pirelli has opted to go a step softer with the tires, with the C3 because the laborious, the C4 because the medium, and the C5 because the smooth.

However with the tires proving to be extra sturdy this yr, the query of tire degradation continues to be a matter of open debate. In accordance with Pirelli, based mostly on the information obtainable from Miami the one-stop nonetheless seems to be to be the quickest technique.

“If the race is run within the dry, the small quantity of information gathered yesterday and as we speak, with only one free apply session and the Dash run virtually solely within the moist, solely serves to consolidate the technique forecasts from earlier than the weekend. Regardless of the transfer to a trio of compounds one step softer than in 2024, the one-stop is on paper, the quickest, with Medium and Exhausting as the plain selections,” stated Mario Isola, Pirelli’s Director of Motorsport, after qualifying on Saturday.

To that time Pirelli favors the medium-hard technique, stopping anyplace from Lap 19 to Lap 25. However groups might additionally go for a hard-medium method, staying on the monitor a little bit longer and making the swap round Lap 32 to Lap 38:

Nonetheless, there are some off-set methods groups might go for, equivalent to beginning on a set of the C5 smooth tires to attempt to choose up some positions on the monitor, after which pitting round Lap 8 to Lap 14 to make a swap. Which may require a two-stop, soft-hard-hard method.

As we are going to see in a second, each staff save for Visa Money App Racing Bulls has saved two units of laborious tires. This might be insurance coverage within the case of a Security Automotive, nevertheless it might additionally give these groups an off-set choice.

What tires does each driver have obtainable?

Listed below are the tires every driver has obtainable for the 2025 Miami Grand Prix:

As famous above, each staff aside from VCARB has two units of laborious tires obtainable. Most have two recent units of C3 tires, whereas Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll have one recent set, and one scrubbed set.

Solely a handful of drivers — Lewis Hamilton, Liam Lawson, Alonso, Stroll, Nico Hülkenberg, Pierre Gasly, and Oliver Bearman — have recent units of soppy tires obtainable.

What in regards to the climate?

Properly, right here is the proverbial X-Issue.

As we noticed yesterday, situations on the Miami Grand Prix may be quite difficult in moist climate. Whereas the rain we noticed forward of the F1 Dash race eased up by the point the lights went out, the situations — and because the drivers defined the spray from the climate tires expelling water behind them — diminished visibility to near-zero.

However at the same time as a lot of the monitor dried out sure parts, such because the chicane via Turns 11 via 16, have been nonetheless seeing swimming pools of water.

Which may imply if we see rain as we speak, and present forecasts are calling for thunderstorms round race time, drivers would possibly want to carry on for an prolonged stint on the intermediate compound. But, as we noticed within the F1 Dash race, the fitting entrance intermediate tire tends to put on shortly in drying monitor situations.

“The monitor was drying however the lap-times weren’t bettering as a result of excessive put on on the entrance proper was producing understeer,” added Isola.

“This occurred after 10-12 laps within the Dash, which is a vital indicator for the race: if we’ve got a drying monitor with an opportunity of extra rain, they’ve bought to search for water [wetter patches on track]. If they will’t, then the inter will put on too shortly, and so they’ll have to contemplate one other pit-stop.”

Only one extra ingredient to contemplate in as we speak’s race.