Red Bull choose harder tyres for Suzuka

2016 Japanese Grand Prix

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Red Bull has opted for a harder mix of tyres for the upcoming Japanese Grand Prix than rivals Mercedes and Ferrari.

Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen have each chosen four sets of Pirelli’s hardest rubber for next weekend’s race at Suzuka. They will have six sets of soft tyres each, compared to nine for the Ferrari drivers and eight for the Mercedes pair.

Lewis Hamilton will have one more set of hard tyres for the weekend than team mate Nico Rosberg. Hamilton won last year’s race by running two stints on the medium tyres and one on the hards.

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

2016 Japanese Grand Prix

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    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...

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    10 comments on “Red Bull choose harder tyres for Suzuka”

    1. Wow that’s a big differential for Softs RBR are right down there with Manor with their selection.

      Be interesting to see which ones get bolted on during P1, P2 and P3

      1. It will probably rain, so who has what won’t matter! ;-)
        Having said that, I am surprised that Mercedes haven’t gone for more Hard/Medium tyres, as it does seem that their car prefers harder tyres than others.

        1. Mercedes only doesnt like the ultrasoft it seems. On some tracks maybe also supersoft.

    2. Don’t understand Sebastian’s allocation? Just 1 of the medium?

      1. Question is: is it the same as Sepang, where both comulsory sets are the hards? If so, then I perfectly see the reasoning, as such situation makes the mediums almost redundant

        1. ex_f1_contributor
          27th September 2016, 17:03

          These are the tyres that Pirelli has said must be used at some point in the race:
          Two sets of P Zero Orange hard.
          Each driver must have both these sets available for the race, and must use at least one of them.
          (Pirelli)

          1. Thanks ex_f1_contributor. There you have your answer Sumedh

    3. “Hamilton won last year’s race by running two stints on the medium tyres and one on the hards.”

      That’s not quite correct: 2 stints on medium and 1 on hard was Sebastian Vettel’s winning strategy. Lewis Hamilton finished 2nd with 2 stints on medium and stints on hard as well.

      1. I apologise for writing nonsense. I was under the impression that this article was about Sepang, not Suzuka.

    4. it occurs to me now that i have absolutely no memory of last year’s race apart from alonso’s radio message. it must have been a shocker.

    Comments are closed.