Pirelli has revealed the compound selections made by teams for Formula 1’s Japanese Grand Prix, with little variation among the front-runners.
Pirelli has nominated the three hardest tyres – the C1s, C2s and C3s – in order to cope with the high-energy placed upon the rubber by the figure-of-eight Suzuka Circuit.
Pirelli mandates one set of each of the Soft, Medium and Hard tyres, while for their remaining 10 sets teams are permitted free choice.
The Ferrari and Red Bull contingent will have nine sets of Softs, three Mediums and one Hard, while Mercedes’ pair will have eight Softs, four Mediums and one batch of Hards.
Renault and Haas have adopted the most aggressive approach, taking 10 sets of Soft tyres, with Nico Hulkenberg having just one set of Medium tyres.
As per usual one set of Soft tyres must be cast aside for use only in Q3, while either the Mediums or Hards must be run for one stint of the race, assuming dry conditions prevail.