Ferrari chooses softer tyres than Mercedes for Spain

2016 Spanish Grand Prix

Posted on

| Written by

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.

DriverTeamTyres
Lewis HamiltonMercedes
Nico RosbergMercedes
Sebastian VettelFerrari
Kimi RaikkonenFerrari
Valtteri BottasWilliams
Felipe MassaWilliams
Daniel RicciardoRed Bull
Daniil KvyatRed Bull
Nico HulkenbergForce India
Sergio PerezForce India
Kevin MagnussenRenault
Jolyon PalmerRenault
Max VerstappenToro Rosso
Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso
Fernando AlonsoMcLaren
Jenson ButtonMcLaren
Marcus EricssonSauber
Felipe NasrSauber
Pascal WehrleinManor
Rio HaryantoManor
Romain GrosjeanHaas
Esteban GutierrezHaas

2016 Spanish Grand Prix

    Browse all Spanish Grand Prix articles

    Author information

    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

    Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

    12 comments on “Ferrari chooses softer tyres than Mercedes for Spain”

    1. 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.

      1. 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).

        1. Yes. If they can maintain/gain position over Mercedes through undercut, S-S-S-M sounds good. or S-M-S-S. @srga91

      2. @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.

        1. @malik That statement holds true for any team on the grid. Even Ham got affected twice in the past 4 races.

    2. 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?

      1. 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

      2. 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.

    3. Interesting to see the two new teams splitting a bit their strategies between their drivers.

      1. ColdFly F1 (@)
        3rd May 2016, 12:29

        that would be my strategy as well (when I don’t have a clue).

        1. 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 ;-)

    4. You gotta love Hass! Every race they chose the “softest” tire allocation for an aggressive strategy.

    Comments are closed.