This weekend we are heading to Hungary for the 36th Hungarian Grand Prix and the 11th Grand Prix of the 2021 Formula 1 season. The Hungaroring has a length of 4.381 kilometers, with the race distance being a total of 306.63 kilometers. There will be 70 laps of the race, and of course every motorsport fan is curious about the tyre strategies that will be followed for this weekend’s grand prix.
Written by Dimitris Grigoratos, Edited by Morgan Holiday
The available tyre compounds will be the C4 (Soft), the C3 (Medium) and the C2 (Hard). With the Hungaroring being a circuit of high downforce and lateral, normal amounts of traction, tyre stress and asphalt grip, and low asphalt abrasion and braking, teams are expected to follow a strategy of only one pit stop as the circuit doesn’t place particularly heavy demands on tyres, especially in warm temperatures.
As many drivers have stated in the past, the Hungaroring feels more like a kart circuit due to the fact that there is a non-stop series of corners where tyres are constantly working. Different strategies have been followed in the past years with teams even choosing two-stop strategies as Mercedes-AMG Petronas did with Lewis Hamilton back in the 2019 Formula 1 season, where he managed to overtake Max Verstappen for the win. However, the two-stop strategy isn’t the most preferred one, as teams usually prefer stopping only once. The average time lost during pit stops is about 22 seconds.
According to last season’s race, the soft tyre is the fastest, with the medium tyre being 0.5 seconds slower per lap, and the hard tyre being 0.8 seconds slower per lap.
All in all, this weekend race is expected to be fascinating and as there are not many overtaking opportunities, the tyre management and the tyre strategies will be highly important for the drivers and for the teams.