Tyre strategy looks simple on TV. Soft, medium, hard, fastest theoretical race time wins. In reality the decision tree is much deeper, and a lot of armchair strategists make decisions based on incomplete information.
What teams know that we don’t
When you’re watching at home you see the lap times and the tyre age on the broadcast. Teams have:
- Per-tyre temperature data (4 corners + carcass)
- Real-time tyre wear estimation from sensors
- Track temperature gradient over the race distance
- Driver feedback in real-time about grip levels
- Historical data on how that specific compound behaves at that specific track in similar conditions
- Live competitor pace and strategy projections
This is why team radio calls sometimes look counterintuitive — they have data we don’t.