Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, 2018

Ferrari take more aggressive tyre selection for Hungary

2018 Hungarian Grand Prix

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Ferrari has chosen a more aggressive selection of tyres for next weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix than Formula 1 rivals Mercedes and Red Bull.

Championship leader Sebastian Vettel will have nine sets of the ultra-soft tyres available, two more than either of the Mercedes or Red Bull drivers.

Hamilton has chosen five sets of the soft compound tyre, two more than Vettel. Bot the leading title contenders have selected a single set of the medium compound.

Renault has selected the most ultra-soft tyres of any team: Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz Jnr will each have 10 sets of the softest tyres available for the Hungaroring race.

The Hungarian Grand Prix will be the third time this year Pirelli has ‘skipped’ a compound in its selection. As in China and Germany the super-soft tyre has not been nominated.

DriverTeamTyres
Lewis HamiltonMercedesMedium tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyre
Valtteri BottasMercedesMedium tyreMedium tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyre
Sebastian VettelFerrariMedium tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyre
Kimi RaikkonenFerrariMedium tyreMedium tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyre
Daniel RicciardoRed BullMedium tyreMedium tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyre
Max VerstappenRed BullMedium tyreMedium tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyre
Sergio PerezForce IndiaMedium tyreMedium tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyre
Esteban OconForce IndiaMedium tyreMedium tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyre
Lance StrollWilliamsMedium tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyre
Sergey SirotkinWilliamsMedium tyreMedium tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyre
Carlos Sainz JnrRenaultMedium tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyre
Nico HulkenbergRenaultMedium tyreMedium tyreSoft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyre
Pierre GaslyToro RossoMedium tyreMedium tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyre
Brendon HartleyToro RossoMedium tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyre
Romain GrosjeanHaasMedium tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyre
Kevin MagnussenHaasMedium tyreMedium tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyre
Fernando AlonsoMcLarenMedium tyreMedium tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyre
Stoffel VandoorneMcLarenMedium tyreMedium tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyre
Marcus EricssonSauberMedium tyreMedium tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyre
Charles LeclercSauberMedium tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyre

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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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17 comments on “Ferrari take more aggressive tyre selection for Hungary”

  1. Vettel fan 17 (@)
    17th July 2018, 11:25

    I assume the supersoft graphic is meant to be replaced by the ultrasofts? @keithcollantine

    1. @vettelfan17 I noticed that error as well.

  2. Probably a good gamble to take really, not much overtaking at Hungary so a good qualifying pretty important there.
    I found it interesting how Ferrari were the only team where drivers have different tyre choices.

    1. I found it interesting how Ferrari were the only team where drivers have different tyre choices.

      Only 3 teams have the same tire choice for both drivers.

      1. Sorry, right you are, I completely ignored the Mediums column and looked at softs and ultra’s.

    2. @garns The difference in tyre choices often disappears after free practices: both drivers drive an extra practice stint on the compound they have more than the other, and so at the start of qualifying they all have the same.

      However I’m not sure it’s that wise to go super agressive with tyre selections this year. I’ve done some numbers and if you tally it up the hardest compound available during the weekend has generally done the most racing laps. The totals are:
      – Softest: 2540
      – Middle: 3464
      – Hardest: 4621

      Meaning teams (well, at least the top 10) more often get the qualifying compound out of the way and then they run the middle or hardest compound available.

      1. @mattds
        Interesting research mate, where did you get that info from?
        You make a good point though, once they get their quali tyre done in the first stint most will run on the same preferred race tyre.

        1. @garns I copied all the stint info from the racefans “lap charts, times and tyres” feature that is made after every weekend into excel and parsed it into useable data and came up with that.

          I also broke it down into actual compounds and this is the result of that (same as before, number of racing laps):
          – hyper soft: 451
          – ultra soft: 2008
          – super soft: 2846
          – soft: 3596
          – medium: 1677
          – hard: 47

          Amount of races a compound was the preferred race tyre (vs was available during a weekend):
          – hyper soft: 0/2
          – ultra soft: 1/7
          – super soft: 4/8
          – soft: 4/8
          – medium: 1/4
          – hard: 0/1

      2. @mattds – very interesting statistic! If someone asked me to say which was the most often used race compound, I’d never have guessed the hardest compound of each weekend, I’d have gone for the middle one with a lot of (misplaced) confidence.

        1. @phylyp I would have thought the same. But I’m a bit of a nut for stats and I thought why not actually do the stats and see :)

          1. Wow, Great stats – very interesting.

            And often drivers find themselves on the hardest compound, for the first time during a weekend, during the race (Ric leading in Monaco comes to mind as a good example). Perhaps an area teams could explore finding some race time?

      3. You may be right overall, but I don’t think the hardest was used the most in the British GP. Also varies on each team’s qualy performance and their confidence level for the particular GP.

        1. No, the hard tyre has only been available during the British GP and it was only fitted by two drivers – both Renaults for a total of 47 racing laps. However, Hulkenberg did drive them to a very fine sixth place.

          But that’s why I said “generally” :)

      4. They often use the hardest tire for setup testing. Resulting in lots of relatively slow laps.

        1. @erikje these are all actual racing laps, taken solely from the complete race stint info. No testing, no free practice laps included.

          1. @mattds – This is exactly the sort of reason I like this site, stats nuts. I am one as well and seeing this sort of analysis is great. Keep it up!

  3. Good choices. Red Bull may have the upper hand there.

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