Pirelli revealed the tyre choices for the 2018 Formula 1 Japanese GP with Ferrari drivers opting for the maximum number of supersoft tyres among all the teams.
Both Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen will have 10 sets of red-coloured supersoft tyre as opposed to seven chose by Mercedes’ drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas for the Japanese GP during October 5-7 weekend.
The Ferrari pair will have the least medium tyre sets with just the one along with two sets of soft compound. On the other hand, Hamilton and Bottas will have four sets of soft and two each of medium.
Also with seven sets of supersoft will be Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen along with five sets of soft compound and just the one medium. In a complete contrast, McLaren drivers will have only four sets of supersoft tyre.
It is the least among all the teams with Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne focusing on the harder compounds with five sets of soft and four each of medium at their disposal for the race at Suzuka.
Majority have gone for eight sets of supersoft tyres including Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, Racing Point Force India, Renault, Haas and Toro Rosso. Among them, Ricciardo, Nico Hulkenberg, Brendon Hartley, Kevin Magnussen and Marcus Ericsson have the same choice.
They have opted for four sets of soft tyres and one of medium. The rest, Carlos Sainz, Pierre Gasly, Romain Grosjean and Charles Leclerc have gone for three sets of soft and two each of the medium compound.
Only Williams has opted for nine sets of supersoft tyre for Sergey Sirotkin and Lance Stroll as the Canadian will have three sets of soft and one medium to Sirotkin’s two each for either compounds.
The teams get 13 set of tyres for the weekend, with one set of the softest compound to be kept for use in Q3. After the completion of qualifying, the Top 10 drivers will have to return that set, while the other drivers can keep it for the race.
For the races, each driver has to keep one set each of the two harder compounds available for the weekend, while the rest 10 sets they are free to choose from the three available compounds for the particular drive.