F1: New compound, early deadline for Australian GP

Formula 1's teams only have until Dec. 17 to decide which tires to run in the 2016 season-opening Australian Grand Prix, as new rules have forced an early deadline.

Although the March 20 race in Melbourne is over three months away, the new tire regulations that recently came into force for 2016 dictate teams have to make their own compound choice. Teams will have three dry compounds available, which for Australia will be the medium, soft and super-soft. The latter has not been used at Albert Park before.

From the three, each driver can choose which two he would prefer to use during the course of a weekend, but teams must make that selection far in advance.

Article 24.2 of the sporting regulations states: "Competitors must... inform the FIA, no less than eight weeks before the start of each event held in Europe and 14 weeks before the start of each event held outside Europe, which specifications of dry-weather tires they wish to use for each of their drivers at the event."

With regard to Australia, the teams will be notified by the FIA on December 10 which tires are available, and they will then have by next Thursday to determine their selection, which will then be revealed two weeks before the race.

Explaining the timeline, Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery said: "It's essentially due to shipping, and bear in mind each team can be different so the complexities can be much, much higher. That's the problem.

"When we were deciding we knew what we wanted, but now the complexities and production have changed and we have to do a campaign that is different compared to what we have done in the past. For Australia, we would always have shipped early January to get the tires there for March to avoid air freight in any case. But now with the new rules, and the teams deciding, it means things have to be done that much earlier to give us time to produce."

Originally on Autosport.com