Romain Grosjean, Haas, Silverstone, 2020

Higher temperatures to increase strain on tyres at second Silverstone race

2020 70th Anniversary Grand Prix weather

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Formula 1’s second grand prix at Silverstone will see a similar pattern in weather conditions to last weekend’s race, but generally higher temperatures.

Friday will be considerably hotter than the two days that follow. As was the case last week, it will be the only day when temperatures hit the thirties, potentially rising as high as 32C.

Teams were originally going to run development tyres during the second practice session. Pirelli abandoned that plan following the failures seen during Sunday’s race, as it wants to ensure teams have the maximum opportunity to gain experience with this weekend’s softer tyre compounds. The difference in temperatures between Friday and Sunday, however, may limit the usefulness of any data they do collect.

Saturday will be cooler, though the overnight drop in temperatures won’t be quite as severe as we saw seven days ago. Following a sunny Friday, the track will cloud over by midday, well ahead of the 2pm qualifying session. Air temperatures will reach around 26C, but the wind will pick up, making conditions trickier for the drivers.

Sunday will be cooler again, though slightly warmer than last weekend, with air temperatures around 24C. Tyres will inevitably be a focus of attention as softer rubber will be used for this race, but several punctures occured on the hardest compounds four days ago. Pirelli plans to modify its tyre use restrictions to reduce the possibility of more failures.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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10 comments on “Higher temperatures to increase strain on tyres at second Silverstone race”

  1. Sameer Cader (@)
    6th August 2020, 7:17

    Mandatory two stops

    1. Sameer Cader (@)
      6th August 2020, 7:18

      For safety and also to see how it works out for the future.

      1. @sam-cader In general, I don’t agree. Having one mandatory pit stop is too many. As has been pointed out before, raising that to two would increase the likelihood of teams converging on similar strategies.

        Obviously in these specific circumstances there’s a concern over tyre durability. But the problem here is tyre performance, not the rules.

        1. Sameer Cader (@)
          6th August 2020, 7:33

          Agree fully Keith but due to the circumstances such as temperature and the COVID-19 pandemic as well i think F1 should use the opportunity to experiment things like the two day weekend, try a race with two mandatory stops and maybe a couple of other things. Because if not now F1 will never have an opportunity to try such things.

    2. @sam-cader I’ve always felt that mandatory stops hurt the racing more than help it as it just forces everyone to do the same strategy which leads to things been more predictable.

      I wouldn’t even have the mandatory stop forcing them to run both compounds, Give teams access to all available compounds & let them run whatever strategy they wish be it 1-2 stops on softer tyres or attempting a non-stop on the hardest. I’d also stop color coding the tyre compounds so that nobody knows what anybody is doing, We have too much information now & that is not helping when it comes to making things seem too predictable.

      I think back to the early 90s as an example. Neither fans or even other teams knew what strategy anybody was doing or what tyre compounds they were running unless a broadcaster managed to get a team to tell them. We went into races not knowing who would do what & even when somebody pitted for a tyre change we never knew what compound they had took off, What compound they had put on & therefore if/when they would stop again. That helped make things feel less predictable even on occasions where the order was more predictable.

  2. 2 or 3 stops race would be fun to watch. But wouldn’t be surprised if some teams still go for a dangerous 1 stop race (desperate teams like Haas, Alfa Romeo)

  3. At the moment, the forecast for the highest daytime temps for the respective three days of track-action looks like this:
    31, 28, and 24 C, so qualifying day not massively cooler than practice day. Last time, there was a greater difference between the days. I don’t think, 24 C as opposed to 21 C on last race day is going to make a huge difference despite a step-softer compound combination. It’s more about track temps, how high are they going to be.

  4. I don’t think pit stops need to be made mandatory. The tyres are bombs waiting to go of after ? amount of laps depending on the car the setup the track condition and the drivers ability track temp to manage the tyres. Some teams may get away with one stop while others may need two or even three, the tacticians will earn their keep I’m sure.

    1. The teams raced here only a few days ago and they know what will happen to the tyres if they push them too far. If, this weekend, teams try the same strategy that led to the tyres going bang then they shouldn’t be surprised if they go bang again. But let them do it. Two of the three options are the same as last week so there must be plenty of data available and there are still the same number of practice sessions to set up. If teams repeat the same mistakes and suffer the same fate, it’s their bill.

  5. Heat should be interesting as it seems to be a weakness for the Mercedes.

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