Pirelli has nominated the ultra-soft tyre for Formula One’s return to the Paul Ricard circuit in France later this year.
F1’s official tyre supplier has nominated the second-softest tyre in its range along with the super-soft and soft for the first grand prix at the track since 1990.The circuit has recently been resurfaced and now features the same kind of high-grip asphalt used at the Circuit de Catalunya and Silverstone. Pirelli will bring special tyres with lower tread depths for the races at these three tracks.
2018 F1 tyres selections
2018 tyres | 2017 tyres | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Melbourne | Soft | Super-soft | Ultra-soft | Soft | Super-soft | Ultra-soft |
Bahrain | Medium | Soft | Super-soft | Medium | Soft | Super-soft |
Shanghai | Medium | Soft | Ultra-soft | Medium | Soft | Super-soft |
Baku | Soft | Super-soft | Ultra-soft | Medium | Soft | Super-soft |
Catalunya | Medium | Soft | Super-soft | Hard | Medium | Soft |
Monte-Carlo | Super-soft | Ultra-soft | Hyper-soft | Soft | Super-soft | Ultra-soft |
Montreal | Super-soft | Ultra-soft | Hyper-soft | Soft | Super-soft | Ultra-soft |
Paul Ricard | Soft | Super-soft | Ultra-soft | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Red Bull Ring | Soft | Super-soft | Ultra-soft | |||
Silverstone | Medium | Soft | Super-soft | |||
Hockenheimring | n/a | n/a | n/a | |||
Hungaroring | Medium | Soft | Super-soft | |||
Spa-Francorchamps | Soft | Super-soft | Ultra-soft | |||
Monza | Medium | Soft | Super-soft | |||
Singapore | Soft | Super-soft | Ultra-soft | |||
Sochi | Soft | Super-soft | Ultra-soft | |||
Suzuka | Medium | Soft | Super-soft | |||
Circuit of the Americas | Soft | Super-soft | Ultra-soft | |||
Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez | Soft | Super-soft | Ultra-soft | |||
Interlagos | Medium | Soft | Super-soft | |||
Yas Marina | Soft | Super-soft | Ultra-soft |
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Jere (@jerejj)
20th April 2018, 11:06
Hopefully, the hypersoft/ultra-soft/supersoft combination will be chosen for Singapore, Sochi, and Yas Marina and the ultra-soft/supersoft/soft for Hockenheim, Hungaroring, and Monza at least.
Imre (@f1mre)
21st April 2018, 14:14
I hope to see many races with 2 steps between the softest and the 2nd softest tire, like in China.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
20th April 2018, 12:09
In the image at the top, does anyone know what the large screwhead-like object on the inside of the wheel rim is? To the right of the picture as seen here.
(Not sure why my earlier comment asking this was deleted)
Paul Heppler (@paulheppler)
20th April 2018, 13:16
Temperature sensor (housing, actually)
Phylyp (@phylyp)
20th April 2018, 13:40
Cheers, @paulheppler , I’ve never noticed it before :-)
Neil (@neilosjames)
20th April 2018, 12:29
I’ve reached the point where ‘soft’ no longer looks like a word. Having the same word in four of the compounds (out of the five they actually use) bothers me far more than it should.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
20th April 2018, 12:31
So, it’s become a 4-letter word for you? :-) @neilosjames
Unicron (@unicron2002)
20th April 2018, 12:55
@neilosjames Agreed, it just doesn’t make sense. Over-complicated, a bit baffling and (I find) very boring. And thats before the added complication of the teams and drivers then referring to the tyre selections as options and primes.
Ben Needham (@ben-n)
20th April 2018, 13:36
Totally agree – for a sport that claims to be trying to make things easy for the casual viewer, this is nonsense. There are two easy solutions:
1) Bring three tyres (whichever ones they like) to each race and call them soft, medium and hard.
2) Label the tyres 1-7, with 1 as the softest working up to the hardest, accompanied by intermediates and wets.
Hugh (@hugh11)
21st April 2018, 11:23
I like this idea, especially the numbers. The hardcore fans can know which tyres are at each track, but for the casual fans who don’t care and just find it confusing, it makes it so much easier.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
20th April 2018, 13:41
The iconography for broadcasts is probably even worse – IIRC, it shows an S for multiple compounds, and puts in a surrounding colour that is meant to represent the compound. A classic case of form over function, since they want to keep the circular tyre shape, instead of using atleast a 2-letter abbreviation.
Paul Heppler (@paulheppler)
20th April 2018, 14:00
So substitute the last three (super-soft, ultra-soft and hyper-soft) with grabby, gummy and sticky. Now let the race announcers go the race strategy for each team.
Joao (@johnmilk)
20th April 2018, 15:24
@neilosjames tartlets hmm tartlets hmm