Forcing drivers to make an extra pit stop would not encourage more overtaking in processional races like last week’s Japanese Grand Prix, says Carlos Sainz Jnr.
More than half the field finished in the same positions they started in Sunday’s 53-lap race at Suzuka. This prompted concerns from some about the quality of racing over the rest of the season.
Sainz believes softer compounds will help generate more racing. “What creates overtaking, in my opinion, is to have a delta to the car in front,” said the Williams driver.
“If you’re only one tenth [of a second] quicker in F1, you’re never going to pass. You need to be five, six, seven tenths quicker than the car in front around Suzuka to overtake. The only way to generate that in Suzuka is with degradation.
“So I would be happy if they’re going to maybe go a step softer in compounds. Given that the tyre is more robust, going softer in compound will increase degradation and increase the chance of overtaking.”
The FIA has already approved a one-off rule change for the Monaco Grand Prix which will force drivers to change tyres twice instead of once, in the hope that will create more changes of position. However Sainz does not believe such a rule would have made last week’s race more eventful.
“If you go for the three [mandatory stints] at a track like Suzuka, for example, you’ll have flat-out racing with the three compounds and the pit stop laps will always be more or less the same, in that we all stopped [within] one lap. You will not get a tyre delta or an overtaking delta.
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“For me it’s more [about] trying to make sure the races are always between a one- and a two-stop, because like that you will have teams trying to do one stops with high degradation and other teams running faster on a two stop to try and overtake and make it to the flag. So that’s my opinion.”
Sainz pointed out drivers had urged Pirelli to create tyres which are more resistant to overheating, so they can race close together, rather than increase tyre degradation. “We need to kind of all organise a bit our thoughts and give Pirelli more of a clear understanding and target,” he said.
“Fair play for Pirelli for doing a step we’ve always asked them to, for the tyres to degrade less and be less sensitive to overheating,” he added. “They’ve done a step and this year so far, we can push more in the race.
“Now we are back into easy one-stop races and we are complaining that there is not enough deg and we want more deg. So first of all I think F1 needs to get all together to kind of follow a bit the same narrative because we ask for one thing, the product improves, and then suddenly we all complain again. It’s a bit of a mess, if you ask me.”
Pirelli has announced it will bring softer compounds for the three races which follow this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix. F1’s official tyre supplier has selected its C3, C4 and C5 compounds for Jeddah and Miami, and the C4, C5 and new softest C6 compound for Imola, all of which are one stage softer than it chose last year.
Jack Doohan believes cooler conditions and changes to the track surface at Suzuka made overtaking more difficult and predicted the same won’t be the case this weekend in Bahrain.
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“We have circuits that have a higher chance of overtakes, and less,” he said. “And that was such unique circumstances of the conditions, how cold it was.
“Sector one, which is usually somewhere which is so crucial in tyre management, now we saw it with the new surface, which we could push flat-out on. So we didn’t really have so many corners that we were struggling with management. So I think it was quite unique.
“I reckon we’re going to be surprised come Sunday night here in this heat with, I think, 38kph gusts coming, and the topic of tyre management or complaining will be maybe a little bit different.”
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2025 Japanese Grand Prix
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