Pirelli: Two mandatory pit stops wouldn't make F1 more exciting

Pirelli's head of motorsport Mario Isola says that forcing teams into two mandatory pit stops during a race wouldn't make Formula 1 more exciting. Since 2017, when Pirelli introduced a new design of tyres that didn't degrade quickly, many races featured predictable, one-stop strategies.

Fans have called for a return to tyres that degrade somewhat faster, to allow different strategies up and down the grid. The Italian has even switched up the tyres it brings to a weekend, sometimes allowing the softest tyre to be two steps softer than the middle compound.

But it has largely unsuccessful. Currently, drivers must complete at least one pit stop during a race, provided that it is dry. And Isola says that there has been some discussions regarding a second mandatory pit stop, but this has brought “nothing really serious or applicable in the short term,” he said. “There are discussions on how to design a better regulation, of course, but this is something that happens every year.”

Isola believes that it would be a problematic rule for the sport: “And also the possibility to have mandatory two-stops. But we need to pay attention because if you have in the rules that you have two mandatory stops there is a high risk to have all the cars stopping in the same lap, because your other constraints mean that basically, you define the strategy.

“If you say you have to use the three compounds, that means you have to stop twice, everybody will stop at the same time. It’s not really something that is generating more strategies or different approaches.”

Fergal Walsh