Haas F1 team principal Ayao Komatsu has spoken out against the decision to limit every tyre used at the Qatar Grand Prix to a maximum of 25 laps. In his view, this restriction will force all teams to pit at the same time, resulting in a rather uninteresting race.
With the 2025 United States event now behind us, Formula 1 heads to Qatar for the penultimate round of the 24-race calendar.
This weekend will feature an important change already announced last week by Pirelli. Every tyre available to the teams at Lusail will be restricted to no more than 25 total laps. The Italian manufacturer made this decision in agreement with the FIA and Formula 1, and it was formalized in the usual technical document outlining event-specific prescriptions.
Since the Qatar Grand Prix covers a total of 57 laps, this effectively means that every car will have to make at least two pit stops during the race. The rule was deemed necessary after an analysis of the tyres used in the 2024 edition, which revealed extreme wear levels on several compounds—especially on the front-left. Combined with high lateral loads, this had significantly increased structural fatigue.
However, the mandatory two-stop (minimum) requirement has not been well received by all teams. Haas, for example, made its dissatisfaction clear through comments from its team principal.
“Yes, personally I don’t agree with these artificial limits, but I guess Pirelli is just scared after last year, right? One-stop race, and Pirelli probably thought: ‘They definitely won’t do that again this time.’ No, no, they will. So they simply imposed this artificial limit to make a one-stop race impossible. That’s all. But to me it’s not right to do something like that in a sport.”
“There’s a lot of talk about avoiding one-stop races, but imposing something artificial, like we saw in Monaco and a year ago in Qatar, will destroy the race. So for me, the issue isn’t just the one-stop races. The problem is that, well, you saw Brazil and Mexico.”
“There’s no need to look further to understand how exciting a race can be when tyre performance sits right on the limit between one or two stops, or two or three stops. You know, when both strategies can work, that’s when you get an exciting race. So for me, that’s the target Pirelli needs to pursue.”
Pirelli’s press release announcing the mandatory two stops at Lusail also mentioned discussions about the maximum 25-lap limit per tyre. Ayao Komatsu, however, claimed that the teams had not been consulted.
“The teams weren’t consulted, but like in Qatar… How many years has it been since they set that rule? Two years? That race was terrible, right? The timing of the pit stops was exactly the same for everyone.”
“So every time you force something artificial, everyone… I mean, nobody is stupid, right? So people basically arrive at the same conclusion. We saw it again this year in Monaco. You know, you try to force something artificially and you end up making the situation worse.”
Leave a Reply