{"id":297531,"date":"2025-11-20T17:51:16","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T17:51:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/297531\/"},"modified":"2025-11-20T17:51:16","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T17:51:16","slug":"two-pitstop-rule-will-destroy-f1-qatar-gp-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/297531\/","title":{"rendered":"Two-pitstop rule will \u201cdestroy\u201d F1 Qatar GP race"},"content":{"rendered":"

Haas<\/a> team principal Ayao Komatsu says the two-pitstop rule implemented by Pirelli for this year\u2019s Qatar Grand Prix<\/a> will \u201cdestroy\u201d the upcoming Formula 1 race.<\/p>\n

Cars will be allowed to cover a maximum of 25 laps per stint during the 57-lap race, making it an effective two-stop while maintaining a degree of strategic variance, due to concerns over tyre wear.<\/p>\n

Read Also:<\/p>\n

This is the second time specific strategies have been mandated for the Losail race after 2023, though at the time it was down to the kerbs causing micro-lacerations in the rubber, leading to punctures.<\/p>\n

The decision was made in agreement with F1, the FIA and the teams, but Komatsu strongly disagrees with it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t agree with those artificial limits,\u201d the Japanese said, \u201cbut I guess it’s just Pirelli scared from last year, right? One-stop race, and Pirelli probably thought, \u2018Surely they’re not going to go this time. Oh no, they’re going.\u2019 So they just put this artificial limit so that it’s impossible to do a one-stop race.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut for me, I don’t think it’s right that we have to do that in a sport. You know, we’re talking quite a lot about, you know, avoiding one-stop races; but to put something artificial, like you saw in Monaco and you saw in Qatar one year, I think it will destroy the race.<\/p>\n

\"Ayao <\/p>\n

Ayao Komatsu, Haas F1 Team<\/p>\n

Photo by: Simon Galloway \/ LAT Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me the issue is not just the one-stop. The issue is that, well, you saw Brazil and Mexico. You don’t need to look any further than that to see what kind of exciting race you could have when the tyre performance is on the edge of one or two stops, or two or three stops. You know, when the two strategies could work, that’s when an exciting race happens. So, for me, that’s what Pirelli needs to aim for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back in 2023, the maximum stint length was 18 laps, meaning cars had to stop three times to cover the 57 laps.<\/p>\n

Not everyone stopped at the same time, but the variance did not dramatically alter the picture of the race.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat race was bad, wasn’t it?\u201d Komatsu pointed out. \u201cYou know, everybody’s pitstop window exactly the same. So, whenever you do something artificial… Nobody’s stupid, right? People come to basically the same conclusion.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I don’t think it’s going to work, those things. You saw that in Monaco this year as well,\u201d he added, after this year\u2019s mandated two-stop got mixed reviews in the Principality. \u201cYou know, you’re trying to really artificially force something, then you made it worse.\u201d<\/p>\n

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– The Autosport.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu says the two-pitstop rule implemented by Pirelli for this year\u2019s Qatar Grand Prix…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":297532,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,813,5241,170418,165239,806,805,803,804,85,165240],"class_list":{"0":"post-297531","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-motosport","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-formula-1","11":"tag-haas-f1-team","12":"tag-komatsu-two-pitstop-rule-will-u201cdestroyu201d-f1-qatar-gp-race","13":"tag-las-vegas-gp","14":"tag-motor","15":"tag-motor-sports","16":"tag-motosport","17":"tag-motosports","18":"tag-sports","19":"tag-streets-of-las-vegas"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297531\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/297532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}