Mercedes have chosen two fewer sets of the softest tyres available for the Belgian Grand Prix than their closest rivals have done.
Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas will each have eight sets of the soft compounds tyres for the first race after Formula 1’s summer break. Their rivals at Ferrari and Red Bull will have two more, while the Mercedes pair have twice as many sets of the medium compound tyre.Lando Norris is the only other driver in the field to have matched the Mercedes’ drivers selections.
There is little variation in the tyre selections among the field for the Spa-Francorchamps race. The only driver to have chosen more than the single mandatory set of the hard compound tyre is George Russell, who will have two sets.
2019 Belgian Grand Prix tyre selections
| Driver | Team | Hard (C1) | Medium (C2) | Soft (C3) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1 | 4 | 8 |
| Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1 | 4 | 8 |
| Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1 | 2 | 10 |
| Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1 | 2 | 10 |
| Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1 | 2 | 10 |
| Pierre Gasly | Red Bull | 1 | 2 | 10 |
| Daniel Riccairdo | Renault | 1 | 2 | 10 |
| Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1 | 2 | 10 |
| Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 1 | 2 | 10 |
| Romain Grosjean | Haas | 1 | 2 | 10 |
| Carlos Sainz Jnr | McLaren | 1 | 3 | 9 |
| Lando Norris | McLaren | 1 | 4 | 8 |
| Sergio Perez | Racing Point | 1 | 3 | 9 |
| Lance Stroll | Racing Point | 1 | 3 | 9 |
| Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | 1 | 3 | 9 |
| Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | 1 | 3 | 9 |
| Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 1 | 3 | 9 |
| Alexander Albon | Toro Rosso | 1 | 3 | 9 |
| George Russell | Williams | 2 | 2 | 9 |
| Robert Kubica | Williams | 1 | 3 | 9 |
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Phylyp (@phylyp)
9th August 2019, 10:08
Not only is there little variation in the field, but it seems like most teams have eschewed getting one more of a compound for one of their drivers (e.g. 2 sets for one driver, 1 set for the other), so they can just test out that tyre, gather data and still have a fresh set for both drivers come race day.
McLaren and Williams are the only ones who’ve done this, on opposite ends of the compound spectrum.
Joao (@johnmilk)
9th August 2019, 10:20
that’s not a conservative tyre choice, that is the right tyre choice
Chaitanya
9th August 2019, 12:16
Depends a lot on weather, if its hot then Mercs have probably the best selection to adjust them to 2 stop race. If its cold and 1 stop strategy then it wont make much of a difference.
Matthijs (@matthijs)
9th August 2019, 11:08
What a waste, all these sets of soft tyres only to prepare and use for the qualifying (top teams) or to get rid of them during the race asap (other teams).
ColdFly (@)
9th August 2019, 12:56
It’s not a waste, @matthijs.
(if dry) they will race most on the Soft and find a convenient time to move to the Mediums (or reverse).
Last year most drivers only used the Softs (C3) and an even softer (Super Soft) tyre and could easily run half the race with either of them.
Matthijs (@matthijs)
9th August 2019, 13:46
@coldfly I mean it’s more a waste economically or ecologically. Almost all soft tyre sets are discarded after a handful of laps.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
9th August 2019, 18:40
@matthijs – The tyres are recycled, so the ecological impact is minimized. Economically – yes there is an expense, but this is F1! The pinnacle of ̶m̶o̶t̶o̶r̶s̶p̶o̶r̶t̶ profligate spending! :)
Source: https://www.thestar.com/autos/2019/06/21/pirelli-uses-formula-one-racing-as-road-tire-laboratory.html
Matthijs (@matthijs)
9th August 2019, 21:52
@phylyp Didn’t know they were recycled, thanks for the info.
Warheart (@warheart)
9th August 2019, 11:58
Only George Russell has chosen an extra hard tyre, and almost half of the grid has only chosen an extra medium. I’d say Pirelli should’ve gone a step softer in their tyre allocation.
Matthijs (@matthijs)
9th August 2019, 13:48
@warheart The tyre selection is havily biased to qualifying performance, so the vast majority of tyres are always the softest available.
nase
9th August 2019, 23:27
@warheart is referring to the compound range Pirelli will bring to the track. C1 to C3 is the hardest possible pre-selection, corresponding to Hard-Medium-Soft in last year’s nomenclature. Which is odd, because I believe they had the Ultrasoft (C4) in their selection at least once a few years ago. The fact that most teams have selected almost exclusively the softest available compound seems to confirm that Pirelli may have gone a step too hard for the teams’ liking.
Ola Ray
9th August 2019, 14:05
Their aint that many slow corners that you need the soft tyre get through quickly (may be 3 or 4)
AdrianT
9th August 2019, 22:13
The tyres are more important than the car. It csm make or brake the race. I think it’s not racing. It is…Wacky racing. As much as I hate Bernie, I think he was doing a better job to steer the circus.
nase
9th August 2019, 23:30
But there’s a ton of medium to high speed corners where softer tyres equal considerably higher cornering speeds.