Pirelli announces its tire choices for Australia and China
Pirelli has revealed the three tire compounds that will be used for the first two Grand Prix of the 2017 season in Australia and China. The tire aspect will also be reviewed next season in terms of both dimensions and behavior.
For the first time, the sole manufacturer of Formula 1 will bring ultra-soft purple-banded tires to the Melbourne circuit. The other sets brought will be the super-soft red and soft yellow tires.
The choice of the Milanese company for the second Grand Prix of the 2017 season in China has also been revealed, and this choice will be a notch harder in the Pirelli range, namely the super-softs, the softs, and the white-banded mediums.
The tire regulations for next season will be the same as in 2016, meaning each team will be allocated a set of ultrasofts for Q3 and must use at least one set of supersofts or softs during the race in Australia. Drivers qualifying in Q3 will still need to start the race on the set of tires that allowed them to set their best time in Q2. As for China, the supersoft tire will be reserved by Pirelli for Q3, and drivers must use at least one set of mediums or softs during the race.
Recall that for the first five Grand Prix of the 2017 season, the choice of tires will be made by Pirelli to avoid burdening the teams with a choice of tires without having been able to test them. Pirelli will therefore provide two sets of the hardest compound, four sets of the medium compound, and seven sets of the softest compound to all teams from Australia to Spain. From the Monaco Grand Prix onwards, the teams will again be able to freely choose their tires, respecting the rules concerning Q3 and the mandatory race tires.
Pirelli’s tires will be significantly different for 2017, with the width of the rear tires increasing by about 25% from 325 to 405 millimeters. The width of the front tires will also increase, from 245 to 305 millimeters. Additionally, next season’s tires will be more durable, which should allow drivers to push harder for longer periods. It is estimated that the new tires, in addition to increased levels of downforce, will produce cars that are between three to five seconds per lap faster than their 2016 counterparts. However, it should be noted that this time gain will be progressive over the course of the season. The 5-second gap that was announced following the redesign of the cars and tires in 2017 will not be achieved during the inaugural race at the Australian Grand Prix.
