MONZA, Italy — With minimal degradation across all three compounds during Friday practice, the Italian Grand Prix should be a simple one-stop race. Assuming there are no Safety Cars and the rain holds off, the pit stop window to switch from the super-soft to the soft will be open from lap 20 to 30, with the possibility of extending it if necessary. The chances of getting an undercut is slim given that the soft and super-soft are so evenly matched in terms of long run performance and degradation.
The medium compound was largely rejected by teams during the two dry practice sessions earlier this weekend, but if high temperatures lead to blistering on the super-softs in the first stint teams may choose to switch to mediums for the second stint. Those starting outside the top ten can choose to start on softs and some are likely to take that option up to offer even greater flexibility with their pit window in case of a Safety Car.
According to Friday’s long-run data, Ferrari had a 0.4s advantage over Mercedes, which means Lewis Hamilton’s best chance of winning will be to get ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen into the first corner. However, a 40 percent chance of rain during Sunday could still turn everything on its head.
http://www.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/24553859/italian-grand-prix-strategy-guide
