Pirelli does not rule out a three-stop strategy.

      Pirelli's tire specialists summarized Saturday at the Austrian racetrack Red Bull Ring, which concluded with George Russell's pole position. The British Mercedes driver completed a lap in 1:06.113 during his final attempt, which is more than two-tenths better than the second-best time set by Charles Leclerc.

      Of course, only the softest C5 compound tires were used in the final qualifying session, but theoretically, such tires will not be useful for everyone in tomorrow's race – partly because it is genuinely hot in Spielberg. The maximum air temperature today was around 36 degrees, and the asphalt reached 53 degrees, which is undoubtedly a factor that significantly affects tire degradation intensity.

      Nevertheless, Pirelli does not rule out that someone might take the risk of using a three-stop strategy.

      Dario Marrafruschi, Pirelli Motorsport Director: "It looks like we are in for another interesting race tomorrow – interesting in terms of strategy. According to our calculations, the two-stop options seem to be the most preferable.

      As we saw yesterday, on long stints, the Medium and Hard compound tires are equally prone to degradation, although the yellow-marked tires provide slightly more effective grip.

      Starting on C4, teams will have two sets of hard tires left, which allows them to complete the entire distance using both. But there is an alternative scheme: teams that saved two sets of Medium tires can run the second stint on hard tires and then switch to a new set of C4 towards the end of the race.

      In today's practice, several teams also tested the soft tires on long stints – this might indicate that they could use them at the start to gain an advantage in grip. And speaking of the two-stop option, with this strategy, tires will need to be changed between laps 14 and 20, and if the race is not neutralized, then they will need to switch to Medium to complete the final stint on Hard.

      But there is also the three-stop option, and in this case, they also need to start on soft tires, which can work quite effectively if the right approach is found. Since the "cutting" technique works effectively in Spielberg, some drivers, expecting their rivals to pit very early, might bet on using all three tire compounds for the remaining distance.

      Considering possible traffic issues and the need to overtake, this scheme is about a couple of seconds slower, but if the track is clear in front of the car, then this option could allow for a faster race than with two stops. It is possible that some teams will decide to take the risk.

      After all, everyone still remembers how Lewis Hamilton won the race in Barcelona using such a strategy."