Pirelli selects tyres for first 4 races
At the end of the third and final pre-season test, held in Bahrain, Pirelli has announced the compounds that will be used for the first four races this year.
| Australia | Medium | Soft |
| Malaysia | Hard | Medium |
| Bahrain | Medium | Soft |
| China | Medium | Soft |
"These choices have been made to reflect the characteristics of each circuit and the all-new 2014 cars, bearing in mind all the data that has been obtained from the three pre-season tests."
"The characteristics of the 2014 P Zero tyre range were in line with expectations in Bahrain, maintaining similar performance to last year but with less degradation. There was no blistering and very little graining, underlining the performance of the latest compounds so far in a wide range of conditions. There was also a reduction in tread wear levels."
Paul Hembery, Pirelli motorsport director: “The information gained over all three pre-season tests has helped us to come up with the tyre choices for the start of the season, having run with the new 2014 tyres in all conditions now: ranging from rain in Jerez to ambient temperatures exceeding 25 degrees centigrade in Bahrain. The conclusion we can draw so far is that the 2014 tyres are more consistent and wear less than their predecessors, without compromising performance. We’re also meeting another of our objectives with one more step towards the reduction of ‘marbles’ on the track. The medium and soft compounds are well matched to the expected race conditions in Australia, Bahrain and China, providing what we expect to be the right balance between performance and strategy with two to three pit stops per car. The more abrasive and hotter conditions of Malaysia have led us to nominate the hard and medium compounds there, as we did last year.”
Pïrelli also noted that the difference between the compounds is slightly larger than it was in previous years.
"The performance differences seen in the second Bahrain test between the compounds are approximately as follows: the supersoft is around 0.7s per lap faster than the soft, the soft is around 1.3-1.5s per lap quicker than the medium, and the medium is around 1.3-1.5s per lap quicker than the hard. These gaps are expected to come down as the teams improve their understanding of the tyres during the season."
