Ferrari has selected more of the soft tyres than Mercedes for the next round of the championship in Spain, Pirelli has confirmed.
Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen will each have eight sets of the softest available compound for the race at the Circuit de Catalunya. Only Haas will have as many sets of the soft tyre.
None of the teams have chosen more than two sets of the hard tyre, which has been nominated for the first time this weekend.
Driver | Team | Tyres |
---|---|---|
Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | |
Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | |
Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | |
Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | |
Valtteri Bottas | Williams | |
Felipe Massa | Williams | |
Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | |
Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull | |
Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | |
Sergio Perez | Force India | |
Kevin Magnussen | Renault | |
Jolyon Palmer | Renault | |
Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso | |
Carlos Sainz Jnr | Toro Rosso | |
Fernando Alonso | McLaren | |
Jenson Button | McLaren | |
Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | |
Felipe Nasr | Sauber | |
Pascal Wehrlein | Manor | |
Rio Haryanto | Manor | |
Romain Grosjean | Haas | |
Esteban Gutierrez | Haas |
evered7 (@evered7)
3rd May 2016, 11:10
S-M-M-S for Ferrari? Like Hamilton last year in terms of # of stops? Mercs will probably stick to two stops and control the pace from the front while Ferrari might go for three stops I guess.
Overtaking is difficult anyway on the circuit. Hope the 1.6s gap comes down this time.
Srdjan Mandic (@srga91)
3rd May 2016, 12:38
Or even a S-S-S-M strategy?
The undercut is very effective around here, so it would make sense (if they are close enough).
evered7 (@evered7)
3rd May 2016, 12:55
Yes. If they can maintain/gain position over Mercedes through undercut, S-S-S-M sounds good. or S-M-S-S. @srga91
Malik (@)
3rd May 2016, 17:54
@evered7 @srga91 : That would be only possible if Ferrari managed safely to complete the first lap. Otherwise we will be watching Vettel riding the motorcycle with a marshal behind to the motor-home.
evered7 (@evered7)
4th May 2016, 7:32
@malik That statement holds true for any team on the grid. Even Ham got affected twice in the past 4 races.
Craig Woollard (@craig-o)
3rd May 2016, 11:17
I’m quite surprised at the lack of hard tyres selected to be honest, given that traditionally Spain is probably the hardest of all circuits on the tyres. Four-stops for some drivers perhaps?
Keisalex
3rd May 2016, 12:06
My thoughts mirrored. Just hoping that we won’t see a race akin to that of 2013 in terms of tyre mayhem etc etc…
Except if Alonso wins, of course! :P
Srdjan Mandic (@srga91)
3rd May 2016, 12:34
Since 2014 the “Hard” has become a useless tyre and no team wants to use it unless they have to.
It has got very low grip and because most cars are just sliding around on it (except maybe Mercedes), it isn’t even more durable than the “Medium”.
There was also very little running on the “Hard” in pre-season testing.
I think most teams will opt for a 3-stop-strategy. Because tyre degredation is very high at this track, there is no point in saving a pit stop.
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
3rd May 2016, 12:26
Interesting to see the two new teams splitting a bit their strategies between their drivers.
ColdFly F1 (@)
3rd May 2016, 12:29
that would be my strategy as well (when I don’t have a clue).
Tommy Scragend
4th May 2016, 0:09
If you split strategies, the only thing you can be sure of is that one of your drivers is on the wrong strategy ;-)
Ian Bond (@ianbond001)
3rd May 2016, 15:01
You gotta love Hass! Every race they chose the “softest” tire allocation for an aggressive strategy.