Red Bull difference emerges with 'surprising' Dutch GP decision

Pirelli chief Simone Berra has expressed his surprise at Red Bull's F1 rivals for not following its decision to use a new set of hard compound tyres in practice ahead of the race.

Each driver is armed with two new sets of the hard compound going into every race weekend, with one of these usually used during the grand prix, meaning one set can sometimes be used in practice to gather data, but then leaves that driver potentially at a disadvantage with less flexible strategy options for the race itself.

In practice for the Dutch GP, both Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson used one of their two sets, leaving them only one for the grand prix, with the six drivers from Mercedes, Ferrari, and McLaren all avoiding the tyre, leaving them two new sets of the C2 hard tyres for the race.

However, Pirelli is predicting a simple one-stop strategy for the race itself, meaning the two new sets of hards won't be used - with Berra surprised that only Red Bull had followed the path of using one set during practice, given the best race strategy is likely to be a medium-hard combination during the one-stop.

"Some teams, and especially Red Bull, decided to use the hard already in FP1, while other top teams decided to start the dry running with mediums," Berra told media, including RacingNews365.

"This is a big difference going into the race because some teams will have two hard sets, and others will have just one set of hards.

"I think I am more surprised about the other teams. Okay, they didn't use the hard; probably they were a little bit scared about the conditions of the track because it was a little bit damp in places at the start of the session, and so they preferred the lower working range compounds compared to the C2s. 

"But considering the degradation, it is in line with our expectations, so at the moment, the one-stop is the top strategy, and I am a bit surprised about Ferrari, McLaren, and Mercedes keeping two sets of hards. 

"It could make a lot of sense if we think about the intervention of the safety car with these new regulations. With this new car, it is more likely, so they would like to keep a new set of hard compounds in case of neutralisation in the middle of the race, when they have already done the pit-stop, for example. 

"So that could be the only reason that I see for that; otherwise, I don't think a two-stop with two hards is, on paper, the fastest one."