The red-marked compound was criticised by several drivers at the Spanish Grand Prix where only two of them used it during the race. Pirelli has left the compound out of three of the tyre selections it has announced since.
The hyper-soft tyre has been chosen for Singapore along with the ultra-soft and soft tyre. It is the fourth tyre selection Pirelli has made this year which features a ‘step’ between consecutive compounds. On each occasion the super-soft has been omitted.
The tyre selections for Singapore are announced in advance of those for the Belgian and Italian rounds because it is a ‘fly-away’ race.
Tyre selections so far
| 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 | Soft | Super-soft | Ultra-soft |
| Silverstone | Hard | Medium | Soft | Medium | Soft | Super-soft |
| Hockenheimring | Medium | Soft | Ultra-soft | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Hungaroring | Medium | Soft | Ultra-soft | Medium | Soft | Super-soft |
| Spa-Francorchamps | TBA | TBA | TBA | Soft | Super-soft | Ultra-soft |
| Monza | TBA | TBA | TBA | Medium | Soft | Super-soft |
| Singapore | Soft | Ultra-soft | Hyper-soft | Soft | Super-soft | Ultra-soft |
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DaveW (@dmw)
31st May 2018, 15:16
Since you can pass at Singapore, I hope these tires don’t give us another street race run at the pace of a high school homecoming parade.
Driomed
31st May 2018, 15:46
Thankfully Singapore has at least one decent straight for overtaking. Reckon it’s worth a 2019 rule to use all three tyres in a race.
Who will be upset that they lose the option to stop just once? That way all the cars will push in all three stints and there is a chance to overcut or undercut twice.
If you can go faster, maybe some cars will stop three times. Nothing wrong with that. Two ten lap bursts lapping 3 seconds a lap faster than everyone else.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
31st May 2018, 17:38
More stops by choice simply isn’t viable when so much time is lost making a stop. The performance difference between compounds isn’t high enough and track position is king.
What could help might be a more creative view towards track configuration and where the pit in / out are located, in order to make the time loss smaller.
Obviously you couldn’t do this at many tracks, but i’m thinking along the lines of how Silverstone’s pit in is before Club or how Spa’s pit in used to be before tge old bus stop chicane.
Jere (@jerejj)
31st May 2018, 17:40
Good that they’ve been more willing for ‘non-sequential’ compound combinations this season than before.
Bleu (@bleu)
31st May 2018, 18:18
Seeing how hypersoft was in Monaco, I hope there will be race where options are hypersoft, supersoft and soft – skipping ultras. Considering circuits I could see it doable in Sochi or Abu Dhabi.
Jere (@jerejj)
31st May 2018, 19:06
@bleu I’d rather go with the softest possible compound combination for both Sochi and Abu Dhabi, which, of course, is the hypersoft/ultrasoft/supersoft combination due to their low-deg nature.
Bleu (@bleu)
31st May 2018, 19:22
@jerejj I was thinking the chance that it would be more difficult to run qualifying on middle compound and then go through the one-stopper in the race with two harder compounds.
nase
31st May 2018, 20:27
@bleu
The main reason for skipping the Supersoft is that they’re too similar to the Soft compound. Skipping the Ultras would leave a huge gap and could make qualifying a farce, as reaching Q3 on the softest tyres could be a massive disadvantage for the race.
falken (@falken)
1st June 2018, 17:56
… And…?
nase
1st June 2018, 23:53
@falken
… and that would be a bad thing because it would lead to a massive backlash.
Ber101 (@cplchanb)
31st May 2018, 20:44
A note to the editor. The Canadian GP circuit is not called Montreal, its call Circuit Gilles Villeneuve
Tristan (@skipgamer)
1st June 2018, 7:32
The Australian GP circuit is also not called Melbourne, it’s called Albert Park circuit. It’s easier to just call Grand Prix by the cities/countries in which they are held. It really makes little difference. Although must admit, the inconsistency with other circuit names rather than cities is perplexing…