What Reason could a team have to not take pole position?

[PlatinumZealot]

Williams says that the pit-stop time is 18 seconds.I guess the teams have to think about how much of a lead one can get from the softs because people doing two stops can get leap frogged if their timing is off.

[Sean H]

If you were going to go for 2 stops and started on the softs, could you possibly short stint the first stop, switch to primes for a long stint and then back to softs for the final stint when the car was the lightest? I could see the front 3-4 teams doing that if they can get away from the field in the first stint.

I think you will see a lot strategy not happen until the race actually starts and everybody sees how their car is taking care of their tires compared to others. If the Ferrari's are managing their tires better than the RBR, you may see them simply one stop it and pass Vettel in the pits where it will be the easiest.

Unfortunetly, I think it will be a parade with the only overtaking happening on the start and then later through pit stops and strategy.

[Ganxxta]

But why would the engines this season be any different to last season? I think the engines will not blow, escpiacialy because they were put down to 17.000 rpm last year. I mean for the techniek of formula 1 this is very low. They can go up to 22.000 if they want to i guess. So the live of a f1 engine is very long comparing to what they used to drive with.

It's 18000 rpm AFAIR, and the engines are build to last 3-4 races as number of the engines is limited per year.

[ringo]

Pole possition is good if the compromise is well calculated. The tyre wear on this track is poor, so starting 8th or 9th behind a lot of dirty air will exacerbate the problem.
Vettel should be able to run away in clean air if his start is good and if the quali setup can complement the added weight.
He also will have control of the pace of the race and have a clearer choice on when to come in. However i don't think things are going to be so smooth for redbull.
He seems to make errors running heavy, so we have to wait and see if he can manage guys at the front like Alonso, Massa, Hamilton on the first lap.
With that i don't think a team doesn't want pole. They will take it if the setup works for the added weight.

One question i have though is, when does the weight reduce to a level where the car no longer feels heavy and boat like?
3/4 tank half tank?
The drivers are going to want to push harder when the weight is down to some level. Or do they push hard when the tyre life is at it's end and a pit stop is within 2 laps?

[segedunum]

One crazy strategy that was suggested to me is the first pit stop could be as early as lap 4, then two 20-25 lap stints on the mediums for Bahrain. If youre going for a 2 stopper. One stop could see a pit stop on lap 12-19, loose the options, then primes for the remainder.

Not crazy. As soon as those softs start going off then you want to get rid of them. On the evidence we have today that looks like being only a handful of laps, and less than four in McLaren's case.