Unlike the other two grand prix so far, the Chinese GP has a mixed trye strategy in place by the F1 drivers with majority of the teammates opting for different choices.
It doesn’t happen often that even the teammates opt for a totally different number of sets of each compound for a grand prix weekend, but the Chinese GP will feature a mixed tyre strategy with several drivers opting for different choices.
Pirelli is bringing C2 (hard), C3 (medium) and C4 (soft) for the grand prix at Shanghai International Circuit, which will be F1’s 1000th race. Starting from the top, the Mercedes duo will have the same eight sets of the soft compound which the majority have opted for.
The list includes Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen, Renault, Haas, Racing Point, Alfa Romeo Racing and Toro Rosso. Together with the eight sets of soft, Lewis Hamilton will have four sets of medium and just the one of hard.
Daniel Ricciardo and Romain Grosjean are the only other drivers on the same strategy, whereas Valtteri Bottas has gone for three sets of medium and two hard which is being followed by Verstappen, Kevin Magnussen, Kimi Raikkonen, Racing Point and Toro Rosso.
In the list, Antonio Giovinazzi is the only one with three sets of hard and two of medium. Meanwhile, the Ferrari drivers will have seven sets of soft compound at their disposal which is same as Red Bull’s Pierre Gasly and the Williams duo.
But Sebastian Vettel, Gasly and Robert Kubica have opted for four sets of medium and two of hard, while Charles Leclerc and George Russell will have five sets of medium and just the one set of hard compound in their kitty.
The only team with nine sets of soft compound in Chinese GP will be McLaren with both the drivers on a same strategy with two sets of medium and hard each. The choices shows that only Racing Point, McLaren and Toro Rosso drivers have same choices to each other.
As the rule states, the teams get 13 set of tyres for the whole Chinese GP weekend, with one set of the softest compound to be kept by the Top 10 drivers to 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 driver.
