Mandatory two-stop races are the latest idea being discussed by the FIA, Formula 1 and the teams to make races more exciting and increase overtaking. But there are far better ways to achieve this.
When the DRS was introduced in 2011 to help overtaking, I was convinced that we would end up in this situation. Yes, the aerodynamic characteristics of the cars play a big part in this, but, if you have an artificial mechanism available to you, it removes the need for drivers to find imaginative solutions to overtaking.
Long gone are the days of the great overtakers like Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell and Gilles Villeneuve, when moves would be planned for a couple of laps and then attacked with total commitment.
Also, the FIA needs to have a look at and come up with a way to identify whether a driver is being a bit too defensive in their driving. It's a fine line between being defensive and blocking.
Next year, we're going to see major changes to how everyone approaches races. The cars will be a little lighter (but not by enough) and a little smaller, which will help. But with the extra active aero and the need to manage the energy and recharging to keep the battery state of charge at the level needed to attack and defend, it will not be easy.
What I don't want to see is a situation where for two thirds of a lap, overtaking is impossible and everyone is driving like a grandparent. Then, for the other third of a lap, everyone has the power to attack and defend and they just cancel each other out.
The two-stop idea is reasonable as far as it goes, and you could achieve that by putting into the regulations the requirement to use all three compounds. Crucially, a minimum percentage of the race would also have to be completed on each compound. However, teams have already mentioned that they would all copy each other and stop one or two laps apart at the most. That's why I've got a different plan.
First of all, cut back to three compounds maximum to cover the whole season. In terms of performance, each should be at least one second per lap apart. Base the construction and durability of these tyres on a worst-case scenario using 2024 and 2025 data, then with less downforce in 2026 you will have a safety margin.
Secondly, the depth of the tyre compound should be changed. Have the same construction for the different tyre compounds, reducing the headaches of design engineers, then on top of that have a very thin and very hard compound, say 1mm thick or less. Then on top of that you have the actual compound, which again would be fairly thin. I would suggest 1.5mm for the soft, 1mm for the medium, and 0.5mm for the hard.
The rationale behind that is that the thicker the actual compound, the more it holds the heat. As the tyre wears, it will be more difficult to maintain heat so performance will drop off. The secondary 'safety' compound could even be a different colour, so it shows when you get to it. More importantly, it must be hard enough to be much slower than the actual compounds.
This should allow the teams to still decide on their own strategies. It will also lead to a choice of one-, two- or maybe even three-stop races on the odd occasion. The drivers who want to minimise the pitstops will need to drive to reduce the rate of tyre wear, but others could run the gauntlet and go for broke driving flat-out.
To reduce the number of tyres Pirelli must bring to the track, especially the ones that don't get used, you could also change the regulations so that in Q1 you must use the hard compound, in Q2 the medium and in Q3 the soft compound. These could also be your three sets of race tyres, except for an allowance for a lock-up which generates a flat spot on your fastest qualifying lap. Not the previous lap or the following lap; only your fastest lap.
You would also have two other sets of each compound. For a normal race weekend, one set of each compound for the first practice session, one set of each compound for the second practice session. For sprint weekends, you get one set of each compound for the practice session and one set of each compound for the sprint qualifying sessions.
Pre-race, Pirelli could mix and match from these sets of different used compounds to make up a set of each compound as spare race tyres from these two sets. This would effectively mean a maximum of two race stints on the same compound because that's all you would have, while your third stint would have to be on a different compound. This would also mean you meet the regulation for using two compounds during a grand prix.
That would mean a total of nine sets of slick tyres per race weekend for each driver instead of 13 (or 12 on a sprint weekend).
I would also suggest a maximum of four sets of tyre blankets for each driver - one for a set of intermediates and one for each different compound that can be used for each session and/or race.
Unlike simply mandating two-stoppers, this gives the teams plenty of strategic options while also creating the conditions for them to make more decisions. That should lead to more variables in strategy and, hopefully, better racing.
And now to upset the purist. If you happened to watch the Brazilian Grand Prix and saw Max Verstappen finishing third from a pitlane start and also suffering a puncture on the way, which put him right at the back again after only six laps, perhaps selecting a few reversed-championship-order grids at circuits where overtaking is possible might not sound quite so stupid.
