[forzaferrari]

Pirelli has unveiled Formula 1 teams' tyres selections for the 2018 Spanish Grand Prix, with Williams on a vastly more aggressive strategy than any of the other outfits.

The Italian tyre supplier has opted to go a step softer with its picks for the recently-resurfaced Barcelona venue than in either 2016 and 2017, and will bring the supersoft, soft and medium compounds to the upcoming race.

Every team but Williams has opted for between five and eight sets of the softest available compound, whereas the Grove-based outfit had made nine sets of supersoft available for Lance Stroll and 10 for rookie Sergey Sirotkin.

Both of its drivers will have only a single set of the yellow-walled soft tyre.

Besides Williams, only Sauber and Haas opted to split tyre choice strategies between its two drivers, with Kevin Magnussen and Marcus Ericsson on one fewer set of softs and one more set of mediums than Romain Grosjean and Charles Leclerc respectively.

The top three teams in the field all differed in their selections, with Mercedes' opting for the most cautious approach and selecting the same amount of supersofts and softs for its drivers, at five.

Ferrari will bring seven supersoft sets to Red Bull's sixth, making up the difference by selecting one fewer set of the white-walled medium compound than the Austrian outfit.

The Spanish Grand Prix will be the first of three races where Pirelli is running modified rubber, with the FIA having granted the supplier's request to allow it bring tyres with lower tread thickness.

[Monster Hesh]

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Beat me to it again Forza!!

I think this is the first race teams didn't have to choose tyres before the season.

What I find, I'm going to say alarming: Is the change to tyre design, lower tread thickness?! 
Surely that could have a huge impact on how the tyre will behave, compared to all the testing and previous four races.
When I first read about it, I thought it was purely in regards to the wet tyres and reducing their tread depth.

Anyone know of Pirelli reasoning behind it?
Will it have a big impact, all teams are saying they struggles with the tyres at some point. Will temperature change be quicker, more difficult to maintain stable temps. Will lockups and blistering expose the carcass more often.

[forzaferrari]

Beat me to it again Forza!!

I think this is the first race teams didn't have to choose tyres before the season.

What I find, I'm going to say alarming: Is the change to tyre design, lower tread thickness?! 
Surely that could have a huge impact on how the tyre will behave, compared to all the testing and previous four races.
When I first read about it, I thought it was purely in regards to the wet tyres and reducing their tread depth.

Anyone know of Pirelli reasoning behind it?
Will it have a big impact, all teams are saying they struggles with the tyres at some point. Will temperature change be quicker, more difficult to maintain stable temps. Will lockups and blistering expose the carcass more often.

Yeah, Pirelli claim that due to the resurfacing of the track the tyres are subject to overheating and therefore reduced the tyre by 0.4mm in thickness in order to help counter this

[Monster Hesh]

Do we know what the other two tracks are?

Maybe they should of left them, let them overheat and cause some chaos up and down the field : P

[forzaferrari]

Do we know what the other two tracks are?

Maybe they should of left them, let them overheat and cause some chaos up and down the field : P

Barca Silverstone and Paul Ricard according to what I read earlier

[forzaferrari]

There you go Hesh

Formula 1’s governing body the FIA has given F1 tyre suppliers Pirelli the green light to reduce the tread depth on their slick tyres by 0.4 millimetres at three races this year in a bid to combat overheating issues.
Pirelli found in pre-season testing that the new asphalt at Spain’s Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya produced more grip and less tyre wear, which means more rubber stayed on the tyre which in turn can lead to surface overheating.

As Great Britain’s Silverstone and France’s Paul Ricard circuits also feature new asphalt for this season, like Barcelona, Pirelli opted to reduce the tread depth, and therefore the amount of rubber on the tyre, for those three races.

“This was a recommendation that we ourselves brought to the FIA – as we have done in the past at some races – because it is less disruptive than nominating harder compounds, which was the alternative,” said Pirelli’s Head of Car Racing, Mario Isola.

“Apart from making a set of tyres weigh around one kilogram less, there is no appreciable difference in performance; so in effect this is an ‘invisible’ change.

“It only applies to the three races in Spain, France and Britain: there is no alteration to the tyre specification planned for any other events.

"We tested the solution last year, and in terms of performance or other consequences, they are almost transparent.

"Obviously the reason we stayed on the standard tyre for this year was in normal circumstances you wear the tyre, and if you don't have enough thickness, you wear the tyre too quickly."

This is not the first time Pirelli have made such a request - the tyre supplier reduced the tread depth in 2011 and 2012 for the Belgian and Italian Grands Prix.

[Jody Barton]

Interesting, I'm no tyre expert and I freely admit it's an area of the sport I often find utterly baffling. It also shows why re-opening the tyre wars of old would be a very, very bad idea.

As to Spain in two weeks time? It's going to be interesting. After Baku a number of Merc engineers seemed to suggest they were essentially bringing an entirely new body to Spain, considering in the past at events like Spa last year when they bought so many new elements technical sites spent weeks analysing the elements, and they referred to that as a few tweaks, and in Baku they claimed substantial changes, it'll be interesting to see what they bring.

Obviously other teams will bring stuff too. Traditionally Spain sees Force India bring substantial upgrades, as well as Renault, who last year brought a lot. Ferrari have already changed a lot of elements on their car, whereas neither Red Bull or Mercedes have brought anything substantial to date. I expect the usual Haas and Sauber downturns here as others out develop them yet again.

[Monster Hesh]

From Renault: "We will be helped in Spain by a step on the engine side with new fuel"

McLaren will get the benefit as despite the Petrobras on the car, they still use BP this year.

Red Bull won't benefit as they are Esso

[Jody Barton]

I still really struggle to wrap my brain around RBR's decision on fuel. Running the extra dynos and doing the extra R&D while not pooling resources with Renault has always baffled me somewhat. Truth is RBR is desperate for a works deal, and I think they'll have it with Honda... who are rumoured to be unlocking further performance on their engines for TR next weekend. Welcome to the start of the development war, let battle commence.

[Monster Hesh]

Me too Jody, more towards why McLaren are siding with Petrobas from next year, which I think I voiced awhile ago elsewhere. McLaren have a lesser budget than RedBull yet will be doing the same extra donkey work. Guess it's all part of the win mentality, "we are better and our way we will find the way to win".

Anyone read, if they have stated what time gain they expect the fuel to bring?

I'm quite excited by what Renault might become at the Spanish GP.