Pirelli primer: which tyres for the French GP?

Pirelli is expecting drivers to be able to push hard in next Sunday's French Grand Prix thanks to a more conservative selection of compounds compared to last year.

The Circuit Paul Ricard has been extensively resurfaced since F1's first visit to the track twelve months ago.

While tyre degradation is expected to be low, Pirelli has opted for a 'middle of the range' selection with the C2 compound as the hard, C3 as the medium, and C4 as the soft tyre: the same nomination as Australia, China, and Azerbaijan.

• Pirelli insists a return to 2018-spec tyres wouldn't help teams

"Our tyre choice this weekend is slightly more conservative than the 2018 soft, supersoft and ultrasoft tyres that we brought to France last year, as the supersoft is no longer part of the 2019 range," explains Pirelli F1 boss Mario Isola.

"Consequently, the drivers should be able to push hard from the start to the finish of each stint.

"Along with Barcelona and Silverstone, we used the thinner gauge tyres in France last year, so we can again make a direct comparison about how the cars have evolved from 2018.

"Although a large part of the circuit has been re-asphalted, it should not make much difference to the track’s characteristics.

"With this being only the second time at the circuit, teams still do not have a full complement of data, so we will see plenty of learning.

"We have already used Paul Ricard for testing this year, but that has been on a much shorter, separate configuration rather than the full Grand Prix circuit".

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter