Pirelli believes that one pit stop is the best choice, but…

      Pirelli's tire experts have summarized a Saturday rich in interesting events, based on which they shared forecasts for Sunday, when rain is possible and a drop in temperature is expected.

      Dario Marraffuschi, director of Pirelli Motorsport: "Almost all teams were united in their choice of tires for today's sprint, although there were a few exceptions; however, we saw all three compounds in action.

      During the short Saturday race, the degradation of the soft tires was linear and its degree was moderate – this is a sign that it may also be useful when team strategists choose tactics for the Sunday race, if the track remains dry.

      In this case, the best choice will be a one-stop strategy, and in theory, the Medium-Hard combination should allow for the fastest race distance. We believe that most teams will prefer this conservative approach – unless it rains. The pit stop should occur between laps 21 and 27.

      The option of starting on hard tires followed by a switch to Medium will be slightly slower – in this case, the first stint can be extended to laps 38-44. Depending on the starting position, someone may gain an advantage if they start the race on Soft, change tires between laps 17 and 23, and then finish on hard tires.

      However, since there is a high likelihood of precipitation on Sunday, teams will need to use tires designed for wet weather. Starting from the Miami stage, Pirelli approves the use of thermal blankets for tires for heavy rain, which can be heated at 40 degrees for two hours.

      For intermediate tires, the heating temperature is already allowed to be increased to 70 degrees, and this process can also last two hours, just like with slicks. The use of thermal blankets definitely simplifies the heating of tires to working temperatures in the early laps, even in low grip conditions, which may be related to cool weather or specific characteristics of the asphalt surface.

      In Montreal, both of these factors must be taken into account, as the lateral loads on the tires are relatively low on this track, making it more challenging to bring the tires up to working temperatures. This phenomenon was also observed during today's qualifying, and the weather forecast for Sunday promises a further drop in temperature by a few degrees."