Drivers’ tyre choices announced for first F1 race of 2018

19 comments on “Drivers’ tyre choices announced for first F1 race of 2018”

1. 

   hahostolze (@hahostolze)
   13th March 2018, 10:16

   Pardon my ignorance, but how? The ultrasofts are softer now than last season, and were already too soft as race compound. Surely even at Albert Park they’ll be absolutely shredded after ten laps?
   1. 

      Joao (@johnmilk)
      13th March 2018, 11:16

      not even Pirelli knows @hahostolze the ultra soft is not even the softest of the softs, there is the hyper soft, which is softer than the softest available for this race.

      and that sentence, weirdly makes sense
2. 

   Ben Needham (@ben-n)
   13th March 2018, 10:18

   Looks interesting; particularly the difference in choices between Mercedes and Ferrari.

   I still maintain that I’d love to see each car given 1 or 2 sets of every Pirelli compound each weekend and tell them to use them as they like. No mandatory pit stops, start on the tyre you qualify with and go from there. I expect you’d get a range of strategies at each race.
   1. 

      eljueta (@eljueta)
      13th March 2018, 10:22

      I agree, no mandatory compounds during the race, you get x of each tyre and you do what you want with it.
   2. 

      deMercer (@)
      13th March 2018, 10:54

      start on the tyre you qualify with

      I would like they ditched the “start on your qualifying tyre”-rule (for the Q3 participants). IMO qualifying should just be used for determining the start grid, and should not influence the actual race more than that.
      1. 

         markp
         13th March 2018, 11:16

         I agree somewhat, should be able to do a race without pitting if you want and all cars should start on different tyres if they want, cars at the back of the top ten seem to have a disadvantage to cars in 11th that did not do as well, it should be equal. Qualifying does influence the race more though as set up cannot be changed but that rule should stay. Also even if they made 20 compounds can we not just have 3 of any of the tyres simply labelled hard medium soft?
         1. 

            Asanator (@asanator)
            13th March 2018, 12:56

            Also even if they made 20 compounds can we not just have 3 of any of the tyres simply labelled hard medium soft?

            100% This!
            1. 

               N
               13th March 2018, 15:02

               This is what used to happen during the Bridgestone era, they would bring 2 from the range of tyres and they would be ‘Soft’ (white stripe) and ‘Hard’ (no marking). It was so much easier to understand for the average viewer.
            2. 

               Egonovi
               13th March 2018, 20:07

               exactly.
               Nobody (I know of) is comparing the performance of the SS at one circuit against the HS at the next.
               What’s next naming the tarmac abrasiveness to compare between circuits: Mirrorlike Abrasive (MA) to Roughed up Sanding Paper Abrasive. And what about the weather and track temperature: Ultra Cold to Hyper Warm.
3. 

   AliceD (@aliced)
   13th March 2018, 11:35

   Looks like Ferrari has not learned their lesson. Hamilton has two more sets of US to prepare and set a qualifying lap, while Ferrari have more SS and S which would mean they would be in a better position during the race. Can anyone guess what the outcome will be? I would guess same as always, Merc qualify ahead if Ferrari, Ferrari faster in the race but having to follow. What a waste of time if it turns out like this.
   1. 

      nase
      13th March 2018, 12:31

      @aliced
      What’s the rental fee for your crystal ball?
   2. 

      Asanator (@asanator)
      13th March 2018, 13:00

      Alternatively, You could look at it as Mercedes having to opt for more of the softest compounds to give it a chance to figure out why it was chewing it’s rear tyres in testing on them all!
   3. 

      Larry Dean
      20th March 2018, 19:17

      Correct me if I am wrong but this very same approach of Ferrari paid them off in Melbourne last year, don’t you remember? Initially Vettel was stuck behind Lewis up to half of the race only to overtook him during pit stops.
4. 

   Ben Needham (@ben-n)
   13th March 2018, 15:18

   As an aside, is it just me who doesn’t know which of ‘Ultra’, ‘Super’ and ‘Hyper’ is softest!? I can work it out, but it’s unnecessarily confusing for your everyday “just switched on” viewer. Surely labelling the softest as ‘A’ or ‘1’ and working your way up to the hardest makes more sense?
   1. 

      Jimmy
      13th March 2018, 16:38

      That’s the way most motorbike racing tyres work now. Pirellis go from SC0 (softest) to SC3 (hardest), Dunlop from 1 (softest) to 5 (hardest). But some years ago, Dunlop had 6683, 6680, 6167, 6753, 6751, 6704 and 6136, from hardest to softest. And this is amateur, club racing.
   2. 

      Mike Dee (@mike-dee)
      13th March 2018, 20:49

      In my mind, ultra and hyper are more than super (although linguistically that is far from clear). It is not clear though, whether hyper or ultra is more. Doesn’t “hyper” mean “too much”? Like in hypertension? So a hypersoft would be the too-soft compound. I for one miss the microsoft compound. Would have been a good name for the current hard.
5. 

   Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
   13th March 2018, 15:22

   All pretty much the same with Renault going the safest. With 3 engines, one would think allocations would become more focus on qualifying running, as tgese imply less miles.
6. 

   stjs16
   13th March 2018, 17:18

   Mercedes must be confident that the softer tyres will work for them.
   1. 

      mystic one (@mysticus)
      13th March 2018, 23:47

      it would be back to Vettel’s comment of others trying to influence tyre choice by faking their tyre wear :) if i got it right… if he is right, merc/rb did a great job, or they just wanna test more set up to find balance… either way some funny/great/boring racing coming… well you cant have all :) it has got to be one of them

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