Tyre choice change for Bahrain

Currently awaiting a link to the report, but it seems Pirelli have changed their choices for this weekends race.

The medium (white banded) will now be the 'option' tyre. The hard (orange band) will obviouslt stay as the 'prime' choice. 

 Thoughts? 

Formula 1 tyre suppliers Pirelli will not use their soft tyres at the Bahrain Grand Prix this weekend after concerns about how quickly they wear out.

No driver managed more than seven laps on one set of soft tyres at the Chinese Grand Prix last week.

"Bahrain is one of the most demanding tracks of the year for the tyres, mostly because of the high ambient and track temperatures," said Pirelli's motorsport director Paul Hembery.

"We expect about three stops per car."

Tyre degradation is expected to be reasonably high during the race in Bahrain, the fourth grand prix of the 2013 season.

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel leads the drivers' standings after three races, with Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen second and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, who won in Shanghai last week, third.

 Source: BBC Sport

This is true, but the track layout suits Red-Bull i think, but i think come race day Everyone else is gonna be right with them, Lotus and Mercedes are good in a straight line where Ferrari I notice are strong all-rounders, as my prediction i've said Vettel will win, but i'll be honest could be anyone and it'll be a close fight all the way.

Red Bull are hardest on their tyres that'll be there biggest disadvantage in the conditions. 

Joining in but back tracking slightly: If there was any risk that the soft tires would last less than 7 laps then it was the right call I think. The tyre choice and wear in China added that extra dimension of a valid alternate strategy for the top 10 cars, but if the tires had lasted any fewer laps it would have been silly. So spot on for China and therefore good call for Bahrain I think.

As for the press - notice it's only sections of the press with no real understanding of the sport who are complaining about tyre wear! Me I think it's great. 

It will be interesting to see, as you say Kipi, the Mercedes powered cars seem to be really strong in the straight line speeds (I think I mentioned previously how Force India could keep cars behind that were using DRS thus making the Ferrari and Renault power engines look slightly weaker in raw pace terms, that is, unless Mercedes have somehow come up with a much more efficient KERS unit which gives them that extra kick in power when they are challenged under DRS conditions). Hopefully we will get a good race to the end, no people running off with a 20+ second lead ideally, lets see Lotus, Ferrari, Red Bull, and Mercedes mixing it up (assuming they are still lead pace cars in Bahrain). Also it would be nice to see Force India up there given how they have been so very unlucky recently but have a really strong car package.

The issue I have with the tyre options for China was that it wasn't really a choice about tyre strategy if you raced logically.

If you did a proper qualifying session in Q3 then you used the soft tyre to set your fastest time, and therefore started on the soft tyre - ran it for 5-6 race laps, then pitted and subsequently ran each of your 3 remaining sets of mediums until they grained, swapped them and got to the end of the race. That isn't really a plan or strategy, it's just what is going to happen when you have the faster tyre wear out so fast. It is a quali tyre in those conditions and not a race tyre.

the counter strategy is **** about in Q3 and you get sessions where multiple cars just don't bother to come out and set times and leave it to a rule book to decide part of the grid. If that becomes a "sensible" option then common sense needs to step in and change the rules to force teams to compete during quali.

If the tyres lasted a bit longer and 2 stop strategy was possible (fairly normal from previous years) then the quali issue would go away as teams would have a set to burn to compete for pole without compromising race strategy.

I must admit, I was amazed Vettel didn't just put a lap in of any time to get ahead of Button in the last session. Was a bit cheeky of Button posting the time that he did :PGarfield360UK

It was because Vettel went off near the end of the lap and pitted - so McLaren took advantage and told Jenson to finish the lap!! 

The Red Bull was just a couple of tenths off the pace though, so i can see why he did what he did, but given say another 3 laps, he could of passed Lewis, but i reckon how hard Vettel was on them he'd of gone off the cliff another lap later lol, Bahrain I reckon will show the true pecking order heading into Europe I feel.kipi19

You could well be right but tyre choice will continue to play it's part I suspect! 

The issue I have with the tyre options for China was that it wasn't really a choice about tyre strategy if you raced logically.

If you did a proper qualifying session in Q3 then you used the soft tyre to set your fastest time, and therefore started on the soft tyre - ran it for 5-6 race laps, then pitted and subsequently ran each of your 3 remaining sets of mediums until they grained, swapped them and got to the end of the race. That isn't really a plan or strategy, it's just what is going to happen when you have the faster tyre wear out so fast. It is a quali tyre in those conditions and not a race tyre.

the counter strategy is **** about in Q3 and you get sessions where multiple cars just don't bother to come out and set times and leave it to a rule book to decide part of the grid. If that becomes a "sensible" option then common sense needs to step in and change the rules to force teams to compete during quali.

If the tyres lasted a bit longer and 2 stop strategy was possible (fairly normal from previous years) then the quali issue would go away as teams would have a set to burn to compete for pole without compromising race strategy.

Avenger1324

You say all that but I think Vettel/Button were closer to a podium finish than they would otherwise have been. Realistically the Red Bull was probably only good for 3rd row of the grid and is harder on it's tyres than Ferrari/Lotus so would have to have pitted before them in the race. I like the fact that in the race a different strategy almost worked, I dislike what it did to Q3!