Strategic uncertainty looms large over gloomy Silverstone

Max Verstappen will lead the F1 field away at the start of a British Grand Prix that looks set for strategic unpredictability. Silverstone is notorious for changeable conditions, and the 2025 edition of the race is ramping up to be no different. McLaren will hope for some variability and chaos, with Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris starting second and third, respectively. Although the current adverse weather is expected to clear up by the time the race starts at 3 pm local time, even if the rain does stay away, the teams will have difficult choices to make. F1's sole tyre supplier, Pirelli, expects the race to be a two-stop affair in dry conditions, with all three compounds in the range a step softer than last year. However, the cooler conditions that have set in as the weekend has progressed bring the one-stop approach back onto the table. Mario Isola, Pirelli's head of motorsport, outlined the difference between the two strategies after qualifying at Silverstone. "Clearly, the conditions [in qualifying] were different compared to [practice], with cooler temperature," he said. "That means probably that the degradation is more manageable for [the race], and that means also that a one-stop is an option for some of the teams. "The problem with this choice is that we know that the wear life for the front tyres is very, very marginal, so it's at the limit. "And especially if [the race] is slightly cooler and they have a bit more abrasion or light graining - higher graining compared to what we have seen [in practice] accelerates the wear... They have to pay attention to not running on a tyre with 100% wear. "If we move to two stops, in that case, medium-hard-hard is the quickest two-stop on paper. A one-stop and two-stop are very close; we are talking about two, three seconds difference." Which tyres remain? But even if teams do go for the conventional two-stop approach, whether to gamble and start on the hard compound or get rid of the yellow-walled mediums (last year's soft) early will still be a matter of debate, especially for the likes of McLaren, who may want variance for its fight with Verstappen. Pirelli expects most to opt for the latter, as Isola highlighted, making use of the more robust tyres later in the race. However, it has not ruled out a late-race sprint on softs, something likely for those starting outside the top 10 if there is a safety car. The leading runners have all preserved their hard tyres for the race, and also all have a spare set of new mediums, meaning under dry conditions, it will come down to whether anyone goes for a conventional order. Yuki Tsunoda, who starts P11 after Ollie Bearman's 10-place grid penalty, still has a used set of the red-walled soft compound, which could come in handy for the Japanese driver.