Pirelli Motorsport has revealed the tyre choice of teams and drivers for F1 Japanese GP (October 11-13) with Mercedes going different in their choice again.
As known, Pirelli is bringing C1 (hard), C2 (medium) and C3 (soft) for the F1 Japanese GP at Suzuka, with Mercedes once again opting to go different to other teams in their tyre choice with least number of the soft compound.
The German outfit will have only eight sets of the red-walled tyres with both drivers having four sets of medium and just the one hard at their disposal. Their immediate rivals Ferrari and Red Bull Racing will have nine sets of the the soft compound.
Together with them, McLaren, Racing Point, Alfa Romeo Racing, Toro Rosso and Williams will also have the nine sets, with all barring the two Racing Point drivers and George Russell have the same choice of three medium sets and one of hard.
The Racing Point drivers and Russell have gone for two each of medium and hard compound as their other choice. Completing the teams, Renault and Haas drivers have opted for the maximum number of soft compounds at 10.
Among them, the two Haas drivers and Daniel Ricciardo will have two sets of medium and one of hard, while Nico Hulkenberg has gone for two sets of hard and one medium – the German is only the fourth driver to have two sets of hard from the 20.
As the rule states, the teams get 13 set of tyres for the whole Japanese GP weekend, with one set of the softest compound to be kept by the Top 10 F1 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.
Before the grand prix, Pirelli will have an additional test of 2020 tyres
