I guess they were already at the hardest possible compound allocation last year (C1-C2-C3) and saw a lot of "management" in the race. Since they can't go harder with compounds (C0 is a disaster), they want to see full tilt racing (they = FoM/liberty) since the season is going to end with a proper WDC fight.
Hamilton and Sainz got punctures in the GP last year. It’s the same issue as the previous years. The combination of the high lateral load and the pyramid curbs causes the tires to fail.
Better dry than intermediates. We would get eaten on the inters. I think the car has performance to win.