Top teams split over Russia tyre choices

Pirelli have revealed the tyres that each driver has selected for the fourth race of the season in Russia on May 1, and for the first time in 2016 Mercedes duo Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton have made an identical selection. However, the Silver Arrows’ chief rivals - Ferrari and Red Bull - have opted for very different allocations.

For the fourth successive race Pirelli are making their medium, soft and supersoft compound tyres available.

Hamilton and Rosberg have both selected one set of mediums, four sets of softs and eight sets of supersofts, which is in stark contrast to Ferrari, who have two fewer sets of supersofts and two further sets of softs for Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen.

Red Bull, meanwhile, have opted for an aggressive approach and picked only one set of mediums, alongside two sets of softs and 10 sets of supersofts for the semi-permanent Sochi track - the same selection as Haas.

The individual driver choices are shown below:

Under the 2016 regulations, Pirelli make three of their five dry-weather tyre compounds available at each event.

The Italian company allocates two sets of tyres for the race (only one of which must be used) and one set which can only be used in Q3 (the softest of the chosen three compounds). Each driver is then able to choose 10 further sets of tyres from the three compounds to take their weekend allocation to 13.