Formula One teams will have to choose from Pirelli’s hardest tyres at The Malaysian Grand Prix.
The race at Sepang International Circuit has moved from March to October this year and will take place on an extensively resurfaced track.
Drivers will be required to have two sets of hard tyres available for the race and must use at least one of them during the grand prix.
The soft compound tyres are required for use in Q3.
2016 tyre selections 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 |
| Malaysia | Soft | Medium | Hard | Medium | Hard |
bezza695 (@bezza695)
16th June 2016, 16:08
At least there is the potential for these tyres to actually get some use given the previous F1 races, that is if it is dry, how different is the weather though at this time of year compared to March?
marcus (@wombat1m)
16th June 2016, 17:23
It’s a relatively dry time of year, Singapore F1 has had no serious rain since it started in 2008 (during track running time), and Sepang is about 300km north in the same monsoon zone. Could it massively chuck it down with rain – yes – but less likely than March most likely.
Night Fury (@toothless)
17th June 2016, 3:37
Weather is very hard to judge lately, but September is supposedly less rain time.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
16th June 2016, 16:17
I don’t like to force teams to use 1 set of generally the hardest tyre, it narrows the scope of strategy and it also something that’s favourable to the top teams as they can both use and preserve tyres better besides not wanting to lose a race on the pits. The strategy is for the teams to make, Pirelli brings the tyres and set the guidelines but don’t pick the strategies. Naturally without Pirelli’s hand, the strategy would be trying to run the qualifying tyre as long as possible always looking to undercut, then run the softest tyre possible whilst pitting the least amount of times, or in other words go for the quickest race time possible, whether you get that wrong by going harder or softer that’s your strategy, unfortunately now as in Montreal everyone is goaded into a 1 pitstop, above all everyone is locked into that one tyre, which is the strategic equivalent of all cars on a train having the DRS open, it’s artificially not changing anything at all.
Jeanrien (@jeanrien)
16th June 2016, 20:00
@peartree I agree completely than having Pirelli picking twice the same tyre spec hurt the interest to have 3 compounds (which is a great novelty). It restricts the freedom on possible strategies and it gives away the intend of some teams ie. if someone start with soft and then switch to medium, they will have to pit again and put the hard, it’s nice to have the unknown and figure out if they want to run long on medium and then switch to soft again for instance.
And I can’t figure out why they have that kind of decision.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
17th June 2016, 4:46
@jeanrien @eurobrun You’re right, why would Pirelli force the usage of generally the harder tyre they bring?
It’s almost as if Pirelli knows they are bringing party balloons to a knife fight.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
16th June 2016, 21:10
Agreed. It should just be “here are three compounds, do what you like”.
Stoyan (@cokata)
17th June 2016, 5:42
If they don’t force that, the Hard tire won’t get used at all. The medium last just as long, and is quicker. The hard tire should just be removed from the range, as it’s totally useless.