Drivers make tyre selections for Malaysia

The Formula One teams and drivers have made their tyre selections for the Malaysia Grand Prix weekend.

The new three compound tyre regulations from Formula One and Pirelli have worked brilliantly this season.

The drivers and teams have to secretly make their selections weeks in advance and are then locked in with their selections, this has made for some interesting tyre strategies highlighted most recently at the Austrian Grand Prix and Belgian Grand Prix.

Although recently the choices proved disappointing as the options haven’t proved to be very different on a team-by-team basis.

For Malaysia, the Pirelli compounds available are the orange striped hard tyre, the white striped medium tyre and the yellow marked soft compound.

There are not many variants in the selections amongst the grid this weekend.

All drivers have between 2 and 4 sets of the hard and medium tyres with 6 to 8 sets of the yellow striped soft compound.

Three-time Formula One World Champion Lewis Hamilton has gone for 3 sets of hard, 3 sets of medium and 7 sets of soft.

That combination has also been made by Kimi Raikkonen, Felipe Massa, Force India drivers Hulkenberg and Perez, Renault’s Magnussen, the McLaren’s of Alonso and Button and Haas’ Gutierrez.

Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg has elected 2 sets of hard tyre, 4 sets of medium and 7 sets of softs.

Sebastian Vettel, Valterri Bottas, Sauber pair Ericsson and Nasr and the Haas of Grosjean have also made this selection.

Red Bull Racing duo Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen and the Manor’s of Wehrlein and Ocon have picked 3 sets of hard, 4 sets of medium and only 6 sets of soft.

Sister team Toro Rosso have gone for a more aggressive strategy with 3 sets of hard, 2 sets of medium and 8 sets of soft.

Renault’s Palmer is the only driver to select 4 sets of hard, along with 2 sets of medium and 7 sets of soft.