Pirelli's decision to impose a maximum mileage limit on tyres at this weekend's Qatar Grand Prix has not gone down well with everyone in Formula 1.
With memories fresh of how the mandatory two-stop regulation at Monaco backfired as teams played manipulation games, there is some scepticism about what spectacle F1 will be left with in Qatar.
While the Losail track layout means we will not end up with the shenanigans of Monaco - where drivers blocked their rivals to open up gaps for their team-mates to get a free stop in - the fear for this time is that the mileage cap will simply remove strategic excitement.
The 25-lap limit laid down for each set of tyres, imposed on safety grounds, could well risk everyone ending up doing the same thing.
As Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu said: "I don't think it's right that we have to do that.
"To put something artificial, and you saw in Monaco, and you saw in Qatar [in 2023, when a similar rule was imposed], I think we could destroy the race.
"As we saw in Brazil and Mexico, an exciting race is when the tyre performance is on the edge of a one stop or two stop, or a two and three stop. When a few strategies could work, that's when an exciting race happens – and that is what Pirelli needs to aim for."
So why has the change been made for Qatar, and are we set for a boring race? Let's dig into it.
Why has the limit been imposed?
The decision by Pirelli to impose a maximum mileage for tyres at the Qatar Grand Prix has been made on safety grounds.
The issue is not related to the kerb problems that forced emergency measures at the 2023 Qatar race, where an 18-lap limit for each set was laid down.
Instead, it is about the potential risks of excessive tyre wear caused by the tough demands of the Losail track layout.
Losail is one of the most punishing configurations of the season for tyres. The energy levels are as high as those experienced at Suzuka, but the tyres face a bigger challenge because there are no long straights for them to cool down on.
Most of the corners in Qatar are high speed, where tyres get increasingly punished – with the section that works them hardest being from Turns 12 to 14.
Furthermore, the smooth track surface means tyres slide more, which both increases risk of graining but also triggers a high wear rate.
Last year, in its post-race analysis of tyres, Pirelli discovered that some tyres had hit a 100% wear rate. This effectively meant no rubber was left on the tyre and just carcass remained.
As Pirelli's director of motorsport Mario Isola said: "The problem is that you have the construction [carcass] that is not protected. So any small debris, or anytime that they hit the kerb, there is a risk that they damage it."
In a season when teams have pushed as much as possible to pull off one-stop races, Pirelli did not want to risk trouble of teams pushing on with 100% worn tyres and be in danger of failures.
Furthermore, it preferred to get things nailed down ahead of the race rather than potentially needing to introduce emergency measures. This is why it warned teams as early as March of its plan.
Isola added: "We prefer to react in advance, so we are not creating anything during the weekend that is changing things and where maybe some teams could get an advantage and some a disadvantage."
How is it going to work?
The restrictions laid down by the FIA are covered as part of the Pirelli tyres prescriptions, which teams must abide by on each grand prix weekend.
While these normally cover elements like minimum pressures and camber limits, for Qatar it includes the maximum number of laps that each set of tyres is allowed.
This 25-lap limit excludes non-performance laps – so laps to the grid, formation laps and laps following the chequered flag for the sprint and the race will not be counted.
The FIA will also take into account what happens if teams mix sets around, as sometimes there will be some shuffling of tyres.
The FIA states: "For a mixed set, number of laps will be defined by the corner of the set with higher mileage."
To ensure that teams do not accidentally trip up and make a mistake with their counting for the race, Pirelli will issue a document prior to the grand prix notifying everybody about the mileage of each tyre set.
Pirelli is confident that the 25-lap limit will not result in teams running out of tyres, nor needing to restrict their preparations in practice.
"The two-stop is a possibility in any race, and we are not saying they have to do four stops where you would need more sets," added Isola.
"And if you look at the laps they do in practice, they have enough sets. In a normal session, they use two sets to do around 25 laps. And 50 laps in one hour is impossible!"
Could teams play tricks?
With teams well aware that details always matter, and exploiting grey areas, an imposition of limits like a tyre mileage always opens scope for some games to be played.
Pirelli thinks however that all the routes to teams have been closed off – as potential curveballs were all aired when the emergency 18-lap limit came into play over the 2023 weekend.
As Isola said: "They always try, but we do want to avoid any grey areas. In 2023, we had 1000 questions about various things that could happen, and that is where we came up with all the rules about what counts and what does not.
"It worked quite well then as we had a three-stop race where nobody was trying to do something strange. If anything happens, I must say, I would be surprised."
But this does not mean that teams may not try to challenge things – especially if a scenario emerges where a safety car period ends with everyone on fresh tyres and there are 26 laps to go. That will trigger some leftfield thinking about how to get an extra stop in.
Circumstances could also throw up some curveballs – such as what happens if the pitlane is closed for safety grounds at the wrong time so cars that have reached the 25-lap limit cannot stop.
"We didn't consider that," admitted Isola. "But if the pitlane is closed, it's a decision of the race direction, so they can decide also to extend the limit."
A litmus test for the future?
While Komatsu believes that teams' strategy simulations are going to end up telling everyone to do the same thing as they chart the best route, Isola is not convinced.
"A 25-lap limit in a 57-lap race is giving some flexibility," he said. "You are not obliged to stop at lap 25, you can play around with it.
"Maybe someone could try to start on a soft and have a first stint that is shorter because, in any case, they know they have to stop twice."
How things shape up on that front remains to be seen, but it could provide a litmus test amid the ongoing debate about making more than one pitstop mandatory in the future.
If we end up with everyone doing the same thing, then that confirms the long argued belief that mandatory stops do not increase the variability of strategies.
But even if we end up with a decent spectacle where teams do different things, Isola has some words of caution about that.
"It's true that when you introduce a new element, sometimes there are variations, because the teams need to get used to the new rule," he said.
"In general then they converge to the same situation. So if maybe we see that in Qatar we have many different strategies, it doesn't mean that if we impose this limitation we will have many different strategies at every race."
