The new ultra-soft tyre compound will be offered to drivers for the fourth time this year in September’s Singapore Grand Prix, Pirelli has confirmed.
The tyre, which made its debut in the Monaco Grand Prix last weekend, will be the mandatory compound for qualifying at the night race.
Each driver must also keep one set of soft and one set of super-soft tyres available for use during the race.
The tyre options for Singapore have been announced before the rounds in Belgium and Italy because nominations must be made earlier for non-European rounds of the championship.
Here are the 2016 tyre compounds announced so far:
| Circuit | 2016 Q3 | 2016 Option | 2016 Prime | 2015 Option | 2015 Prime |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melbourne | Super-soft | Soft | Medium | Soft | Medium |
| Bahrain | Super-soft | Soft | Medium | Soft | Medium |
| Shanghai | Super-soft | Soft | Medium | Soft | Medium |
| Sochi | Super-soft | Soft | Medium | Super-soft | Soft |
| Catalunya | Soft | Medium | Hard | Medium | Hard |
| Monte-Carlo | Ultra-soft | Super-soft | Soft | Super-soft | Soft |
| Montreal | Ultra-soft | Super-soft | Soft | Super-soft | Soft |
| Baku | Super-soft | Soft | Medium | No race | No race |
| Red Bull Ring | Ultra-soft | Super-soft | Soft | Super-soft | Soft |
| Silverstone | Soft | Medium | Hard | Medium | Hard |
| Hungaroring | Super-soft | Soft | Medium | Soft | Medium |
| Hockenheimring | Super-soft | Soft | Medium | Soft | Medium |
| Spa-Francorchamps | TBA | TBA | TBA | Soft | Medium |
| Monza | TBA | TBA | TBA | Medium | Hard |
| Singapore | Ultra-soft | Super-soft | Soft | Super-soft | Soft |
Christopher Rehn (@chrischrill)
2nd June 2016, 12:00
Spa gets SS, S, M.
Monza gets S, M, H.
It’s been the same every year. The third tyre is one step softer than in 2015.
Patrick (@paeschli)
2nd June 2016, 13:34
Given the tyre failures at Spa last year, I wouldn’t be surprised to see S, M and H for the Belgium GP.
Corey
2nd June 2016, 13:42
In Sochi the third tire was one step harder.
Kingshark (@kingshark)
2nd June 2016, 14:54
@chrischrill
No chance they are racing the SS tyres around Spa, especially after multiple failures from the S tyres last year.
nase
2nd June 2016, 17:27
@kingshark
If I remember correctly, there were exactly two failures: Rosberg’s and Vettel’s. I’m not sure if that really counts as ‘multiple’.
Since then, the teams are required to use higher tyre pressures and must not use suspension and camber settings that are deemed too extreme. The SS should be fine to use, and I’d love to see it in the race. It’s probably a step too soft, so the front-runners will be tempted to make it through Q2 on the Soft, but I’d love to see it come into play during the final 5 laps of an aggressive strategy. The grip advantage would be massive through Sector 2, against cars on worn Softs or Mediums.
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
2nd June 2016, 22:15
Yeah, imagine that, 3-5s advantage over other cars.. Should be epic.
Offcorse we wont see it. Nobody will pit 5 laps to go on purpose. Unless one stoping on hardest tire?
Man United_Vettel (@siegfreyco)
2nd June 2016, 12:20
@chrischill Monza last year was softs and mediums
ColdFly F1 (@)
2nd June 2016, 12:36
@keithcollantine, can you please include in the chart which is/are the dedicated race tyre(s).
When it is 2 different compounds, then it does not matter as you automatically use at least one of them when switching compounds.
But in Montreal the dedicated race tyre is 2x the Soft; this limits strategy options. I would have loved to see US/S fight a US/SS/US strategy; but the 2nd will not comply with the rules.
Tristan
2nd June 2016, 15:52
Is that how it works? I would like some clarification. I thought the rule was just you had to use 2 different compounds once, I didn’t know you had to use a specific compound in the race.
Man United_Vettel (@siegfreyco)
2nd June 2016, 16:02
You need to use at least one of the allocated tyre by pirelli which, in this case, is two soft tyres so the teams would be forced to use the softs during the race
nase
2nd June 2016, 17:34
@ Tristan @siegfreyco
It’s a combination of both.
In a race that’s run entirely on dry-weather tyres, each driver has to use:
A) at least two different compounds
B) at least one set of tyres that was nominated by Pirelli before the race.
Usually, when Pirelli nominates two different compounds, both rules are automatically respected by switching from any compound to any other compound. In Canada however, the teams will have to keep in mind that they imperatively have to use the Softs at one stage.
Tristan
2nd June 2016, 15:55
The big question for me with Singapore is how Mercedes will fair. After last year I’m very excited for that race.
nase
2nd June 2016, 17:37
Yeah, we’ve seen them struggle in Monaco, and it seems as though Singapore is even more of a challenge for them. Maybe they’ll benefit from the Ultrasoft. We’ll see. Right now it looks as though Red Bull could be the team to beat in Singapore.
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
2nd June 2016, 22:18
Exactly my thoughts. Singapore is turning out to be quite an exciting venue last year for example.
Jerejj
2nd June 2016, 19:15
Hopefully, they’ll bring the supersoft/soft/medium combination to both Spa and Monza, but I doubt it and think they’ll bring soft/medium/hard instead. Then for Sepang and Suzuka I’m expecting S/M/H, and hopefully, SS/S/M to COTA, Mexico, and Brazil or US/SS/S to Mexico and US/SS/S to Abu Dhabi.