F1: Pirelli bucks trend with final tire choices

Formula 1 tire supplier Pirelli has bucked its 2016 trend by not allowing softer tires to be used in the final two races of this season compared to 2015.

New rules introduced for this season mean Pirelli nominates three dry tire compounds for each F1 race this year, compared with two previously. So far it has nominated a softer compound than previously used for every track on the calendar.

Pirelli introduced the new ultra-soft tire for races at Monaco, Canada, Austria, and Singapore, allowed the super-soft to be used in Australia, Bahrain, China, Russia, Hungary, Germany, Belgium, Italy, USA and Mexico, and the soft to feature in Spain, Britain, Malaysia and Japan.

However, Pirelli will not allow the super-soft to feature at Interlagos, or the ultra-soft for the season finale at the Yas Marina circuit. It has instead decided to nominate harder tires as the extra available compounds at each of these two grands prix.

Last year teams used the soft and medium tires at Interlagos, which featured new asphalt and re-profiled curbs.

This season the hard tire will also be available in Brazil, while in Abu Dhabi the medium compound will join the super-soft and soft that F1 teams used in 2015.

Generally, nominating softer compounds for this season has led to significant improvements in lap times in qualifying and greater strategic variation in the races.

Originally on Autosport.com