Strategy time.

In my last playthrough, I decided to put my faster race-day driver, Simonsson, on hard tyres but made her push it like mediums at the start and end for a 1-stop stint. My line of thinking is that I can stay in range of the faster leaders enough that I can box for tyres and stay in the top 5 even if I pit a lap earlier or later.

Problem is that pitting in a lap earlier isn’t doing me favors for position, and a lap later is a death knell if I’m somehow ahead on the leaders’ out lap but her tyres are shot. So I’m 11th, unable to get the sponsor rewards.

Now I'm about to start a new run at Doha, an 18-lap race with 2-minute laps. What should I do to keep both my drivers well within Top 5 in one stop?