These are awesome scenarios!
More precisely, between 1994 and 2004 (in 2005 you could only change tires if they were heavily damaged, in 2006 it was similar to 1994–2004, and from 2007–2009 it became closer to the modern era—if you’re interested, I can elaborate on those as well), pit stops were primarily determined by fuel level. Since the fuel tank size was reduced, it wasn’t possible to fill enough fuel to run the entire race, so at least one mandatory stop was required.
During refueling, teams would also change the tires. In terms of compounds, there were only Soft and Hard options. Teams were free to choose which compound to start the race with, but they had to use that same compound for the entire race. Tires were much more durable back then, so fuel strategy dictated the pit stops. Some drivers stopped once, others twice, and in certain cases even three times. Choosing a two-stop strategy gave you a weight advantage compared to those doing a single stop, which created incredibly interesting strategic battles.
Regarding setup, I was thinking it would be great if you could define percentages for strategies—for example, 40% one-stop, 60% two-stop, or even 40% one-stop, 40% two-stop, 20% three-stop—so the game could randomly assign fuel strategies for each driver. Another nice feature would be the ability to set the strategy individually for AI drivers, allowing unique fuel plans for each race.
These are just ideas, and I know it’s much easier to talk about them than to actually implement them. Unfortunately, my coding skills are nowhere near yours, but I’d be happy to help with testing if you want.
Let me know if you need any more info and thanks for hearing me out I really appriciate it.
