Drivers will have to make at least three pit stops during Sunday's Qatar GP; there will be a maximum limit of 18 full laps per stint; newly-crowned world champion Max Verstappen starts on pole; watch the Qatar GP live at 6pm on Sky Sports F1, with build-up from 4.30pm
Sunday 8 October 2023 17:25, UK
The FIA has confirmed that all drivers will be obliged to make at least three pit stops during Sunday's Qatar Grand Prix amid "safety" concerns over tyre wear.
After tyre manufacturer Pirelli raised the alarm following Friday's practice session, further analysis from Saturday's 19-lap Sprint led the sport's governing body to implement a limit of 18 laps for each stint, which means at least three pit stops will be required in the 57-lap contest.
The FIA said that three Safety Car interruptions - and consequent reduction of full-speed running - during the Sprint meant the data it planned to gather during the Sprint was "insufficient" in terms of offering a different conclusion to its previous analysis.
When drivers have used sets of tyres fitted to their cars, previous laps done on them will be subtracted from and reduce the running allowed in that stint.
The FIA and Pirelli will inform teams before the race of how much running they are able to do on each set of tyres at their disposal, while any car exceeding tyre-lap limits will be reported to the stewards as being run in an unsafe condition.
The combination of the high-speed nature of the Losail International Circuit and its 'pyramid' style kerbs is putting heavy stress on the tyres, and even a changing of track limits at Turns 12 and 13 for Saturday's Sprint action did not sufficiently reduce the potential danger long stints could pose.
An FIA statement on Sunday said: "Due to the frequency of Safety Car interventions in yesterday's Sprint, the tyre data available for analysis by Pirelli was insufficient to add to that already undertaken following previous track sessions.
"In some cases, tyres that were analysed from the Sprint did show the initial onset of the separation in the sidewall between the topping compound and the carcass cords of the tyres.
"As was the case in Free Practice 1, this issue has likely been caused by the high-frequency interference between the tyre sidewall and the 50mm 'pyramid' kerbs used extensively at this circuit, aggravated by the propensity to ride those kerbs."
The ruling is set to add drama to the 57-lap contest, which newly-crowned world champion Max Verstappen will start on pole position ahead of Mercedes duo George Russell and Lewis Hamilton.
Verstappen sealed his third successive drivers' title in Saturday's Sprint as he finished second to McLaren's Oscar Piastri, with the shortened race suggesting that the medium tyre compound is far more effective than the soft on the newly-laid surface.
Speaking to Sky Sports F1 on Saturday, FIA single-seater director Nikolas Tombazis explained that the event organisers have done nothing wrong with regards to the layout of the Losail International Circuit.
"To be clear, the kerb used is of an FIA specification," Tombazis said. "The track have done a good job to put it together, all of the surfacing, we've got no complaint against the track.
"They've used all the guidelines, but these interactions between tyres and kerbs can be very complicated and can depend on a lot of relatively subtle details, which obviously these indicate that now we need to do more research there to improve the situation further, both from a tyre and a kerb point of view.
"We did consider modifying the kerbs, but in the time we had from very late last night until today, that would not have been possible. It was not one or two single kerbs, it was quite an extent, they would all have had to be filed off, and with very hard concrete that would not have been possible.
"On that basis, the next thing we got was to actually get the cars to stay a bit further away from the kerbs, which is what we've done by changing the white line and so on."
Pirelli motorsport director Mario Isola insisted on Saturday that the tyres were "far" from failing, but that the "initiation of the issue" caused them to take action.
"No, we are far from this [tyre failures]," Isola told Sky Sports F1. "But because we had the possibility to check with a microscope any element of the construction, it was possible to identify this initiation of the issue.
"If I show you a tyre or a sidewall or a section, you cannot see anything.
"The first reaction is to consider different track limits in order not to run too much over the kerbs, and after the Sprint we have a look at the tyres and we analyse the tyres used for the 19 laps, and we will inform the FIA of our findings.
"The circuit is quite new, so we didn't have the chance to inspect it. The kerb is a type of kerb we can find on other circuits, the difference is the time you spend over the kerb, and the speed you run over the kerb.
"Here, you have very high-speed corners, over 270kph, and you stay over the kerbs, for example between Turn 12 and 13, quite a lot, and this is creating this initiation of the damage."
Sunday October 8
Watch Max Verstappen's first race as a three-time world champion in the Qatar GP on Sunday live on Sky Sports F1. The race starts at 6pm with build-up from 4.30pm. Stream F1 on Sky Sports with NOW for £21 a month for six months
