Indian GP: Pirelli predicts teams will try one-stop strategy

Pirelli believes that the tyre strategy for the Indian Grand Prix will be a near-repeat of that executed in Korea - with wear rather than degradation being the key consideration

Early running at the Buddh International Circuit has pointed towards a good life for the tyres, leaving Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery thinking there is a chance that some teams could try a one-stop strategy.

"It is a bit like the last race really, it is borderline," he said about the chances of there being only one pitstop. "It is all going to be based on what happens with the wear on the front right, which drags in Turn 10/11.

"There is also a bit of a variation between the teams at the moment but some of that they might be able to resolve with set-up. If the teams can get up to 20-25 laps in the first stint, then possibly it can be a one stop."

Hembery said the biggest surprise after Friday's running in India was just how big a difference there was between the two tyre compounds on offer.

"There was almost no degradation. There are very, very low levels of degradation. But there is a pretty big performance difference between the two compounds, although again it is massively varying between half a second and almost 1.6 seconds, so hard for us to give you an accurate figure on that as we have seen such big fluctuations between cars.

"We felt it would be 0.8s to 1s before we came here, and I still believe that to be the case."

Click here for AUTOSPORT's analysis of the likely form and strategies for the Indian Grand Prix after Friday practice