Mercedes and Ferrari once again differ on tyre selections; Red Bull and Haas opt for aggressive supersoft strategy
Wednesday 27 April 2016 14:20, UK
Mercedes have opted for softer tyres than Ferrari for the Russian GP, taking two more sets of supersofts compared to their championship rivals.
The Silver Arrows will take eight sets of the red-marked tyres to Sochi for Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, compared to six sets that both of the Scuderia drivers will have.
However, Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen will have an extra two sets of softs available compared to their Mercedes counterparts.
Both teams will take just the mandatory one set of medium tyres to Sochi.
The boldest strategy choices have come from Red Bull and Haas who have picked 10 sets of supersofts for the Russian GP, with just two sets of softs and one set of mediums for their drivers.
The Haas VF-16 proved to be kind on its tyres at the Australian and Bahrain GPs in the hands of Romain Grosjean, although they did struggle with Pirelli's mandatory tyre pressures in China, which many drivers felt were too high.
How the tyre selections differed at the Australian GP, Bahrain GP and the Chinese GP
Elsewhere, Manor are the only team to take more than the one mandatory set of medium tyres to Sochi, choosing two sets of the white-walled rubber.
Don't miss the F1 Report on Wednesday at 8:30pm on Sky Sports F1 for full analysis of an action-packed Chinese Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit. Natalie Pinkham is joined in the studio by Marc Priestley and Alex Lynn.
