Ferrari has chosen the most aggressive tyre selection of the top three teams for the Chinese Grand Prix, picking eight sets of the ultra-soft tyres for each of its drivers.
The third round of the championship at the Shanghai International Circuit is the first where Pirelli has put a ‘step’ in its tyre compound selections. The super-soft, which is the next harder compound after the ultra-soft, has not been selected. The soft and medium tyres are available.
McLaren, Haas and Williams have also selected eight sets of the ultra-softs for each of their drivers. In contrast Red Bull have taken seven sets and Mercedes just six.
Lewis Hamilton has chosen more soft tyres than any other driver with six sets.
2018 Chinese Grand Prix tyre selection
| Driver | Team | Tyres |
|---|---|---|
| Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes |    |
| Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | |
| Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | |
| Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | |
| Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | |
| Max Verstappen | Red Bull | |
| Sergio Perez | Force India | |
| Esteban Ocon | Force India | |
| Lance Stroll | Williams | |
| Sergey Sirotkin | Williams | |
| Carlos Sainz Jnr | Renault | |
| Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | |
| Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso | |
| Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso | |
| Romain Grosjean | Haas | |
| Kevin Magnussen | Haas | |
| Fernando Alonso | McLaren | |
| Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren | |
| Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | |
| Charles Leclerc | Sauber | |
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NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
3rd April 2018, 16:03
I hope this helps them luck in to another win. They will need it to compete with them Mercs.
Makana (@makana)
3rd April 2018, 16:18
We could see Merc doing one while Ferrari doing two pit stops here… Maybe the extra tyre step brings the strategies closer together. Realistically, I think this is simply Ferrari giving it their all for Qualy.
Vettel fan 17 (@)
3rd April 2018, 16:30
Mercedes are doing the right thing, looking at a one stop race. After Australia track position looks key. There was some passing last year though.
Todfod (@todfod)
3rd April 2018, 16:50
Too early to say anything about the right tyre choice or strategy. Ferrari could also do a 1 stop, by starting with the US and switching to the Medium. A safety car period could could change a lot as well.. and would probably favour drivers doing a 2 stop US/US/S would probably be the best choice then.
Nitzo (@webtel)
3rd April 2018, 18:39
If Ferrari are doing a one stop, they would rather take the softs which will help them defend their positions.
In a two stop race, wouldn’t a US/S/US be more fruitful ?
Sumedh
3rd April 2018, 16:45
I think Ferrari have taken the right decision.
A step change means that overtaking will be easier if you are on the softest compound. Ferrari are clearly trying to maximize their time on the softest compound.
nase
3rd April 2018, 21:49
Mercedes should delete their strategy software and read this comment section instead. Nothing will ever surprise them again.
Islander
3rd April 2018, 22:41
Bodes well for Kimi !!
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
4th April 2018, 4:58
Actually McLaren is most aggressive. I’m sure they’ll find out after FP1 what tyres they’ll burn through FP2 and FP3 in order to have the best allocation. These days this means that Ferrari will run more high grip short runs in FP.
SparkyAMG (@)
4th April 2018, 13:08
I wonder whether Mercedes will plan to start the race on the softs like Rosberg did a few years back and leave the US for later in the race when the track is rubbered in. They’ll easily 1-stop the race whereas those starting on the US risk being forced on to a 2-stop strategy if there’s too much action going on.
nase
4th April 2018, 23:36
@sparkyamg
I was wondering the same thing, but then again, Soft to Ultrasoft is a huge step. The Ultrasoft may be too soft to be a viable choice in the race, but the Soft may be too hard for anyone to get into Q3 with.
As for ‘easily’ one-stopping the race: This year’s Soft tyre is more or less last year’s Supersoft, and the longest stint on Supersofts in 2017 was 30 laps. 26 laps on Ultrasofts sound like a tall order. My money is on two stops, save for the odd backmarker attempting to one-stop the race with a combination of Soft and Medium (the latter should be capable of up to 40 laps, based on the evidence from last year.
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