Formula One drivers have overwhelmingly preferred the ultra-soft tyres in their selections for the upcoming Singapore Grand Prix.
Out of the 20-strong field, 13 drivers have chosen ten sets of the softest compound available. The Mercedes drivers are among the exceptions to this: Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas have each chosen nine sets of ultra-softs.
The Haas drivers have chosen most conservatively, with four sets of super-softs and eight ultra-softs.
2017 Singapore Grand Prix tyre selections
| Driver | Team | Tyres |
|---|---|---|
| Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes |    |
| Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | |
| Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | |
| Max Verstappen | Red Bull | |
| Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | |
| Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | |
| Sergio Perez | Force India | |
| Esteban Ocon | Force India | |
| Felipe Massa | Williams | |
| Lance Stroll | Williams | |
| Fernando Alonso | McLaren | |
| Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren | |
| Carlos Sainz Jnr | Toro Rosso | |
| Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | |
| Romain Grosjean | Haas | |
| Kevin Magnussen | Haas | |
| Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | |
| Jolyon Palmer | Renault | |
| Pascal Wehrlein | Sauber | |
| Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | |
Christopher Rehn (@chrischrill)
5th September 2017, 10:07
Is Vettel planning to run US-US-S / US-S for the race? With a single set of Supers, he will not be able to both test the tyre and actually use it in-race unless he plans to run it blind or run it worn.
DavidTyrrellF1 (@davidtyrrell)
5th September 2017, 10:09
Vettel the only driver opting for 1 set of SS. He must be thinking a US-S stint or an aggressive US-US-S. Or will he risk going onto the S tyres with not running on them?
Ivan Vinitskyy (@ivan-vinitskyy)
5th September 2017, 10:32
He’s hoping Rai will do the prep work on those tires so he doesn’t have to.
ADD (@addimaf1)
5th September 2017, 15:49
Neither, Vettel will do some of a practice session on softs, Kimi on the supers. The teams split the choices all the time, they always have the same tires going into the race.
Ju88sy (@)
6th September 2017, 10:46
Right and the same story at Mercedes, except they each have an extra set of SS vs Ferrari.
Blazzz
5th September 2017, 10:17
Have we seen the end of the mediums and hard tyres in this new Pirelli era? Seems to me that teams don’t see the use for them given how durable the softer tyre compounds are.
F1 in Figures (@f1infigures)
5th September 2017, 11:36
Pirelli were required to produce more durable tires for 2017, so they basically changed the labeling of the tires (this year’s ultra-soft tire is more or less previous year’s soft tire) and added two harder compounds. Last year the tire compounds were about right, as in most races all three compounds were used, so this year the tires are basically two steps too hard.
Jere (@jerejj)
5th September 2017, 18:24
@f1infigures This year’s US is harder than last year’s hard.
F1 in Figures (@f1infigures)
5th September 2017, 19:38
@jerejj I don’t think so. Last year the hard compound tire was only suitable for Suzuka, that tire was even too slow for the highly abrasive Catalunya circuit. Even last year’s ultra-soft tire would last 20-30 laps on most tracks it was used, so this year the much harder tires should naturally be able to last (almost) the entire race distance.
Jere (@jerejj)
5th September 2017, 20:19
@f1infigures Of course, I’m not entirely sure whether it’s (This year’s US is harder than last year’s hard) true or not: The reason I typed that is because I saw someone stating that to be the case at the beginning of the season (during the Australian GP weekend to be more precise) on this website.
Hugh (@hugh11)
5th September 2017, 11:34
Interesting that Hamilton and Vettel have both taken 2 sets of softs. US-S their race strategy? But then why wouldn’t Raikkonen or Bottas do the same. Also interesting that Vettel has just 1 set of SS.
Martin
5th September 2017, 17:46
The teams are splitting the workload. If you look at Hamilton:Bottas Hamilton has 1 extra set of Soft, Bottas 1 extra of the Super Soft. You can expect them on Friday to run similar workloads on those extra sets for back to back comparison, then for the rest of the weekend they have the exact same tyre allocation.
Same for Vettel:Raikkonen. Vettel has extra Spft, Raikkonen an extra Super Soft.
OOliver
5th September 2017, 20:45
The drivers give back a set after FP so they still end up with exactly the same tyres per team.
C
5th September 2017, 11:52
Are those US going to last more than couple of laps of Singapore circuit? In that case the situation will be very similar to Silverstone GP where limping horses had spectacular tyre failures.
anon
5th September 2017, 18:10
C, they had no problems with the ultra-soft tyres last year (whilst the cornering forces are likely to be higher, at the same time the construction is more durable), so I doubt that it will be a problem. There have been few problems with the ultra-soft at any of the previous venues where it has been used after all.
JamieFranklinF1 (@jamiefranklinf1)
5th September 2017, 17:33
Will the Championship leader have neon ultra softs so that I can identify them as the championship leader?
Marian Gri (@)
5th September 2017, 19:57
Just forget about it! Forget about it…
Fan
5th September 2017, 23:10
We need to bring back michelin and goodyear to add compound element into race strategy.
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
6th September 2017, 11:46
Gelael? Seriously? The guy is simply not F1 material. Yet another waste of track time!
Finished 19th in formula Renault 3.5 in 2015 and 16th in gp2 in 2016.
He is currently 15th in this year’s F2 championship.
Needless to say those results are so impressive one must give him a drive as quickly as possible …