F1 Barcelona strategy chaos predicted by George Russell and Lewis Hamilton amid “double deg” fears

George Russell and Lewis Hamilton have predicted that the Formula 1 Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix will be at least a two-stopper due to extremely high tyre degradation.

Searing temperatures over the weekend in Spain, coupled with the high-speed demands of the Circuit de-Barcelona Catalunya, has led to drivers experiencing extreme levels of tyre degradation.

Based on the data gathered during the long runs conducted in Friday’s second practice session, teams were experiencing dramatic pace drop-offs on the medium compound after only a handful of laps.

The high temperatures, coupled with Pirelli’s decision to go a step softer with its tyre compounds for this year’s race in Barcelona, has resulted in higher-than-expected degradation.

“I think closer to a three [stop] than a one,” Russell, who pipped Hamilton to pole position in qualifying, replied when asked about the expected strategy for Sunday’s race.

"I don’t think a one-stop is going to be possible at all. It’s not clear what the best tyre is; it’s quite interesting, on a track surface like this, all three tyre compounds look quite similar. That was the case last year.

"Everybody was running the C3s and the C2s last year, and obviously with the C4 this year, it still looks not a bad race tyre.  So, there’ll be a lot of variation, but I don’t think a different tyre will make that much of a difference."

Seven-time world champion Hamilton revealed that the degradation was “double” what Ferrari had anticipated before the weekend.

“The deg was like double than what we expected,” Hamilton said. “We came into the weekend with an expectation of whether what the tyres are going to be, and for us, we had twice the amount of deg.

"It will be interesting to see if that’s improved going into tomorrow, but yes, it’s going to be at least a two-stop."

Winning from outside of the front row is extremely rare in Barcelona, but Andrea Kimi Antonelli thinks both the start, and degradation, could offer opportunities.

The Italian teenager, who sits 66 points clear of Hamilton and 68 ahead of Russell in the championship, could only manage third on the grid in his Mercedes.

“It’s a long run into Turn 1,” Antonelli explained. “Also, without the use of the wing, the slipstream is going to be much stronger, so important to get a good start and then try to get away cleanly into Turn 1.

“And then from that point on, it’s going to be trying to play the long game. Tyres are very fragile here and we might see a lot of stops during the race because, yeah, they don’t last very long.”