Ferrari will take more soft tyres to the Spanish GP than Mercedes
Pirelli's hardest compound tyre not a popular choice for Barcelona
By William Esler
Last Updated: 19/05/16 11:38am
Ferrari will take softer tyres to Spain than Mercedes, where all teams have appeared reluctant to take Pirelli's hardest orange-marked compound.
The Scuderia will have eight sets of the yellow soft tyre available compared to Mercedes' seven, with the Silver Arrows picking an extra set of mediums for both of their drivers.
Both teams will take just the one mandatory set of Pirelli's hard tyres.
Spanish GP tyre selections
| Driver | Hard tyres | Medium tyres | Soft tyres |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mercedes: Lewis Hamilton | 1 | 5 | 7 |
| Mercedes: Nico Rosberg | 1 | 5 | 7 |
| Ferrari: Sebastian Vettel | 1 | 4 | 8 |
| Ferrari: Kimi Raikkonen | 1 | 4 | 8 |
| Williams: Felipe Massa | 1 | 5 | 7 |
| Williams: Valtteri Bottas | 1 | 5 | 7 |
| Red Bull: Daniel Ricciardo | 2 | 4 | 7 |
| Red Bull: Daniil Kvyat | 2 | 4 | 7 |
| Force India: Sergio Perez | 2 | 5 | 6 |
| Force India: Nico Hulkenberg | 2 | 5 | 6 |
| Renault: Kevin Magnussen | 2 | 4 | 7 |
| Renault: Jolyon Palmer | 1 | 5 | 7 |
| Toro Rosso: Max Verstappen | 1 | 6 | 6 |
| Toro Rosso: Carlos Sainz | 1 | 6 | 6 |
| McLaren: Fernando Alonso | 1 | 5 | 7 |
| McLaren: Jenson Button | 1 | 5 | 7 |
| Sauber: Marcus Ericsson | 2 | 6 | 5 |
| Sauber: Felipe Nasr | 2 | 6 | 5 |
| Manor: Pascal Wehrlein | 2 | 5 | 6 |
| Manor: Rio Haryanto | 2 | 5 | 6 |
| Haas: Romain Grosjean | 2 | 3 | 8 |
| Haas: Esteban Gutierrez | 1 | 4 | 8 |
Haas are the only other team to pick eight sets of the soft compound tyre, while Sauber picked the fewest with just five sets.
Mercedes know the medium compound well around the Circuit de Catalunya having performed most of their pre-season running at the venue on the white-walled tyre.
Thus far the new three-compound rule has opened up a wider range of strategies for teams, which could help spice up the action around the aero-dependant circuit in Spain.
Tyre choices for previous races:
