Fernando Alonso, McLaren, Suzuka, 2018

McLaren make another very conservative tyre selection for USA

2018 United States Grand Prix

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McLaren has again made by far the most conservative tyre selection of the 10 teams for next week’s United States Grand Prix.

Fernando Alonso will have six sets of the hardest tyres available, the softs, while team mate Stoffel Vandoorne has selected five. No other driver will have more than three.

The team has chosen just five sets of the softest tyres, the ultra-softs, which is also the fewest of any team.

McLaren’s conservative tyre selection for the previous race in Japan prompted claims they had missed the deadline for choosing their tyres and been assigned a default selection. The team denied this was the case, but admitted it had got its tyre choice “wrong”.

FIA race director Charlie Whiting said he did not believe the team had been late with its tyre choices. “What we would normally do if they haven’t selected it the day before would be give them a quick call and say ‘don’t forget you’ve got to make your tyre choice’,” he explained.

Championship contenders Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel have made similar tyre selections. Vettel has one more set of the ultra-softs than Hamilton, who has more softs.

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2018 United States Grand Prix tyre selections

DriverTeamTyres
Lewis HamiltonMercedesSoft tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreSuper soft tyreSuper soft tyreSuper soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyre
Valtteri BottasMercedesSoft tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreSuper soft tyreSuper soft tyreSuper soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyre
Sebastian VettelFerrariSoft tyreSoft tyreSuper soft tyreSuper soft tyreSuper soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyre
Kimi RaikkonenFerrariSoft tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreSuper soft tyreSuper soft tyreSuper soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyre
Daniel RicciardoRed BullSoft tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreSuper soft tyreSuper soft tyreSuper soft tyreSuper soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyre
Max VerstappenRed BullSoft tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreSuper soft tyreSuper soft tyreSuper soft tyreSuper soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyre
Sergio PerezForce IndiaSoft tyreSoft tyreSuper soft tyreSuper soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyre
Esteban OconForce IndiaSoft tyreSoft tyreSuper soft tyreSuper soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyre
Lance StrollWilliamsSoft tyreSoft tyreSuper soft tyreSuper soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyre
Sergey SirotkinWilliamsSoft tyreSuper soft tyreSuper soft tyreSuper soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyre
Carlos Sainz JnrRenaultSoft tyreSoft tyreSuper soft tyreSuper soft tyreSuper soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyre
Nico HulkenbergRenaultSoft tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreSuper soft tyreSuper soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyre
Pierre GaslyToro RossoSoft tyreSuper soft tyreSuper soft tyreSuper soft tyreSuper soft tyreSuper soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyre
Brendon HartleyToro RossoSoft tyreSoft tyreSuper soft tyreSuper soft tyreSuper soft tyreSuper soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyre
Romain GrosjeanHaasSoft tyreSuper soft tyreSuper soft tyreSuper soft tyreSuper soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyre
Kevin MagnussenHaasSoft tyreSoft tyreSuper soft tyreSuper soft tyreSuper soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyre
Fernando AlonsoMcLarenSoft tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreSuper soft tyreSuper soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyre
Stoffel VandoorneMcLarenSoft tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreSoft tyreSuper soft tyreSuper soft tyreSuper soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyre
Marcus EricssonSauberSoft tyreSoft tyreSuper soft tyreSuper soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyreUltra soft tyre
Charles LeclercSauberSoft tyreSuper soft tyreSuper soft tyreSuper soft 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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26 comments on “McLaren make another very conservative tyre selection for USA”

  1. so ferrari made a more reasonable tire selection once the championship is lost LOL i really hope they sack arrivabene and put binotto in charge, given the lack of leadership shown by mauricio

    1. Also they should have sacked their current golden boy and brought in Daniel Ricciardo when they had the chance before Renault bagged him. Leclrec and Ric would make a very good and stable team.

      1. When Renault bought the signing of DR and he is full of confidence concerning the Renault project. Btw if you have notice someone is kicking his ass.

        1. Yes. The Renault reliability fairy is kicking him around pretty bad.

    2. @j3d89 These choices were made 14 weeks before the upcoming race weekend, so long before the Championship had realistically been lost.

    3. @j3d89, the context in which those tyre selections were first made is important to consider, given that the nominations are made a long time in advance of that race.

      Those tyre nominations would have been made at a time when Ferrari had been pushing Mercedes very hard at circuits which had been expected to be ones that favoured Mercedes, such as Silverstone. When your strategy is based on an expectation you would be the team on pole and leading the races from the start – allowing them to dictate the pace and putting the pressure on Mercedes to have to attack them from a disadvantageous position – their tyre allocation makes more sense.

      Of course, that strategy has not been working out in more recent races given that they have fallen back in terms of single lap pace, so now it is other teams who are dictating the pace to them.

    4. @javier javier (@j3d89) The tyre selection was chosen and ratified 14 weeks ago so your comment doesn’t make sense.

      1. @anon @angie
        i believe it doesnt matter if they made the selection right now or last year, you dont go with just 1 set of a tire compound and the rest of the other compunds and then during the race avoid it due to lack of info, this is something that has hurt ferrari bad in the recent races plus bad strategy during qualifying

  2. someone tell them they are choosing tyres. it looks like they are selecting chocolates based only on the wrapping

  3. What difference does it make, they’ll be at the back fighting Williams. Mclaren are lucky Williams got the car so spectacularly wrong or they would the slowest team on the grid. 6 seasons have come and gone since Mclaren have produced a car that can compete at the front, really sad and shameful for an organisation of their size and resources. A great for so long, the once mighty Mclaren is a loss to the sport.

  4. Bunch of donkeys at McLaren. I don’t think they’ll ever learn.

    1. @todfod I don’t think they could learn, considering they made these choices three and a half months ago, even before the summer break.

      1. @mashiat

        Didn’t mean learn from last weekend. I know they’ve locked in their tyre preferences a while ago.

        I meant when will they ever learn to use their brains and stop this litany of f ups.

        1. who says they have not?

          1. actual performance and results!

          2. The race classification

          3. @coldfly @todfod what Bernie is saying is that they are using their brains, but that doesn’t amount to much

  5. Keep in mind that these tyre selections, for overseas races, must be supplied to the FIA 14 weeks prior to the race weekend. That means all of the teams put in their selections on or around July 14. In F1 time-lines, that is a long time ago. The championship picture was different then than it is now.
    Ferrari’s isn’t the most aggressive selection, just that their’s is different from Mercedes.
    Irony is that the time gap for the European races is only 8 weeks.

  6. They clearly gave up the rest of the current campaign already around the mid-season point (around when the choices for the upcoming US GP were made.)

  7. It seems their only strategy is attempt to qualify 11th and do a long first stint on the hardest tyre, trouble is, without enough ultra softs, they’ll struggle to get out of Q3.

  8. A sorry state of affairs at McLaren, clearly the car has been really bad on the tyres for them to go so conservative. Really hope they turn their fortunes around soon.

  9. FIA race director Charlie Whiting : “don’t forget you’ve got to make your tyre choice”

    Keith Collantine Author : “Don’t forget to submit your 2018 RaceFans Predictions Championship entry”

    Just i read that and my mind goes to that.
    Maybe Charlie Whiting is a Race Fan.

  10. I still think they’re just picking tyres for testing on and have given up on the actual races.

    1. It looks like that i hope it helps for next year. I had hope they would join the gp wins for this year.

  11. No intelligence to the selection, just plain gambling like they do during the races

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