{"id":256660,"date":"2025-11-02T12:20:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T12:20:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/256660\/"},"modified":"2025-11-02T12:20:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T12:20:13","slug":"two-mandatory-pitstops-in-f1-pirelli-open-minded-about-2026-rule-change-options","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/256660\/","title":{"rendered":"Two mandatory pitstops in F1? Pirelli open-minded about 2026 rule change options"},"content":{"rendered":"

While the Mexican Grand Prix offered a rare mix of strategies, many of the recent races have followed a familiar pattern. George Russell<\/a> described F1 as a race to Turn 1, with dirty air becoming more of a factor again and teams favouring the most conservative strategy \u2013 the one-stop.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Pirelli tyres are more robust than in previous seasons, allowing drivers to push more, but also reducing tyre degradation. It has removed some key strategic variables for teams.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Pirelli gets a hard time no matter what,\u201d Russell said when asked by Motorsport.com. \u201cIf there’s lots of tyre degradation, people say it’s not real and drivers can’t push. When there’s no tyre degradation, we say it’s a boring race. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSo realistically, you want a tyre that you can push full gas, but that doesn’t go the whole race. If you could choose, you’d want a tyre that you can go flat out on, but after 15 laps it falls off a cliff.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The last five races have all been won with a one-stop strategy. If changing weather conditions in Silverstone and a late safety car in Zandvoort are excluded, the last race won on a two-stopper was the Austrian Grand Prix.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Previous attempts to encourage two-stop races have fallen flat\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pirelli has experimented with softer tyres compared to last year, and skipping compounds in its tyre allocation \u2013 such as bringing the C1, C3 and C4 instead of three consecutive compounds.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In both cases, teams still made a one-stop work strategy by managing the tyres more. It was the case in Austin as well, where everyone except Alex Albon<\/a> completed the race with just a single pitstop, despite Pirelli’s step in compounds.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Alexander <\/p>\n

Alexander Albon was a rare two-stopper in Austin<\/p>\n

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

\u201cTeams always maximise what they have, and that means they try to reduce the number of pitstops,\u201d Pirelli’s motorsport manager, Mario Isola, said. \u201cIt makes sense because during a pitstop you can make a mistake and when you go back on track, you can get in traffic and lose additional time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTeams always try to minimise the number of pitstops because they don’t care about the show.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

To potentially improve that \u201cshow\u201d, some in the paddock have suggested mandating two pitstops by regulations. It\u2019s exactly what Max Verstappen<\/a> said in Baku \u2013 arguing that forcing two stops is still better than bringing a tyre (C6) that in his view is \u201cuseless\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read Also:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we are doing is try to make something good for the show,\u201d Isola told\u00a0Motorsport.com. \u201cAnd I believe that a two-stop is better for the show because you have more unpredictability. But you can’t force anyone unless we accept that two pitstops are defined by regulation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mandating two pitstops may still not be enough\u00a0<\/p>\n

The discussion has gained some momentum in recent weeks and came up during the Mexico GP drivers\u2019 briefing. According to the FIA, the topic was on the agenda for this week’s Sporting Advisory Committee (SAC) and Motorsport.com understands it will be discussed in the F1 Commission as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The FIA stresses that ideas are far from concrete yet, although several teams \u2013 and Liberty Media \u2013 would at least be willing to explore the options for next year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, we spoke about this several times,\u201d said Isola. \u201cI remember that last time we had some simulations from the teams. We had a chat with the other stakeholders, with the FIA, F1, and the teams, and said, okay, if we select these three compounds for event A, B, C, D, E, what is the predicted strategy for you? We asked the teams to make those simulations and come back to us \u2013 not making this public, but only providing the information to us.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we realised is that the majority of the teams were converging on the same strategy, because you have a soft that is able to run five laps, a medium that is good for 20 laps, and a hard that can go longer. They were basically replicating the same strategy. So, when you put more constraints, the risk is that everyone is going in the same direction.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Max <\/p>\n

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, Mario Isola, Director of Pirelli F1<\/p>\n

Photo by: Reginald Mathalone \/ NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/p>\n

More pitstops would create more undercut opportunities, but not necessarily more variety.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best races are the ones in which the two-stop has an advantage, but someone brave can still try a different strategy,\u201d Isola added. \u201cWe had a good example of that in Monza last year, when Charles [Leclerc] was able to win on one stop and others were on two stops. It was like that in Spa with George as well, but unfortunately, this doesn’t happen every time.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Two stops without compound restriction a better option?\u00a0<\/p>\n

If F1 decides to move towards two mandatory pitstops in the future, multiple options are on the table. One possible direction would be the two-stop requirement but remove the mandate to use different compounds.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can also consider two stops without any obligation to use different compounds, so then they can use whatever they want,\u201d Isola explained. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can do medium, medium, medium if you have the tyres. If you are at the back, you probably want to start on the hards because you want to go longer at the beginning of the race. If you are in the middle of the grid, maybe you want to start on the softs and get rid of some traffic. There are many combinations.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

This, Isola suggests, would create more strategic variety \u2013 something the compound rule might prevent even with two stops. However, he emphasised that such plans would still need more research if it’s something the FIA, F1, and teams really want to pursue.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Tyres <\/p>\n

Tyres in the McLaren garage<\/p>\n

Photo by: Steven Tee \/ LAT Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cMy personal suggestion \u2013 it\u2019s not me making the regulations, so I can just talk from my experience and what I have seen in 15 years \u2013 is that if there is a common agreement or idea for the future, that we identify a number of races and ask the teams to simulate,\u201d Isola said. \u201cIf we choose this, what’s your reaction? Then we\u2019ll see if they come back with different approaches. And if they do, that\u2019s probably the way to go.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t risk to damage what we have now\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, there are two considerations as F1 prepares for the 2026 season. First, the experiment with two mandatory stops hasn’t been a great success in Monaco, although Isola responds: \u201cWe shouldn’t take Monaco as an example, because there you had the risk of going off-road,\u201d he referred to drivers cutting the Nouvelle Chicane.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Those in favour are more inclined to look at the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix, in which two stops were mandatory for safety reasons. In combination with the extreme heat, it caused physical problems for some drivers, but the idea of drivers pushing without tyre management is appealing to Liberty Media.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The second question is whether changes are needed at all if the new cars can follow more closely in 2026. Dirty air should be less of a factor under F1’s new rule set, which could make any intervention premature.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe, but I don’t know,\u201d Isola said. \u201cIn general, if we want to consider a regulation change, we should work together to avoid unexpected consequences.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNext year, as you said, is all different. We don’t know what to expect, but when we have an idea, there’s at least a possibility to react. But we should consider that we have a good championship now, so don’t take the risk to damage what we have.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

A potential two-stop rule will be discussed further in upcoming meetings \u2013 with all parties asked to remain open-minded at this early stage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read Also:<\/p>\n

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– The Motorsport.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While the Mexican Grand Prix offered a rare mix of strategies, many of the recent races have followed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":256661,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,576,577,82,119173],"class_list":["post-256660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports","tag-two-mandatory-pitstops-in-f1-pirelli-open-minded-about-2026-rule-change-options"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256660"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256660\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}