Pirelli reveal tyre choices for first four races

Formula One racing’s official tyre suppliers Pirelli have confirmed the tyre compounds that will be available at the first three Grands Prix of 2014.

In Australia, Bahrain and China the teams will use the white-marked medium and yellow-marked soft compounds, while in Malaysia the orange-marked hard and white-marked medium compounds will be used.

The Italian tyre company said that the allocations were based not only on the characteristics of each circuit, but on data obtained during pre-season testing. According to Pirelli, there was the no blistering and very little graining of the tyres in Bahrain, plus results of the final test showed ‘an increased performance gap between the hard and the medium compound, and the medium and the soft compound’.

This should, Pirelli say, give the teams plenty of scope to formulate interesting strategies to boost their race prospects.

“The conclusion we can draw so far is that the 2014 tyres are more consistent and wear less than their predecessors, without compromising performance,” said Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery.

“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.”

At a glance - tyre compounds for 2014:

Australia - medium, soft

Malaysia - hard, medium

China - medium, soft

Bahrain - medium, soft