Pirelli names three compounds for Bahrain, China

Pirelli has nominated the medium, soft and supersoft compounds for the 2016 races in Bahrain and China.

New tyre regulations see three compounds nominated by Pirelli for each race weekend, with the softest compound required to be used in Q3 and at least one of two compounds nominated by Pirelli mandatory for the race. As in Australia, the medium, soft and supersoft tyres have been selected.

As a result, one set of supersoft tyres must be used in the final part of qualifying, while Pirelli has nominated the medium and soft compounds as the race compounds, of which both must be available and at least one set must be used during the race.

Teams are therefore able to have free choice of 10 of their 13 compounds per race weekend, and will have to make their selections in over the coming weeks.

Selections for the Australian Grand Prix must be submitted today (December 17).

Mercedes: Ferrari not involved in data theft

Romain Grosjean exclusive: From Lotus to Haas

Use the red tabs on either side of the screen to scroll through more Formula One news and features

Click here for a gallery of the McLaren MP4-X

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

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.

Recent Posts

Hamilton explains Dutch GP team order radio rant

Lewis Hamilton left Zandvoort with a fourth-place finish, a 59-point championship deficit and, perhaps most…

37 minutes ago

Russell admits Mercedes team order ‘the right decision’

George Russell was not exactly thrilled when Mercedes told him to move aside for Kimi…

1 hour ago

Verstappen explains costly Zandvoort crash: ‘I got caught out’

Max Verstappen’s final Dutch Grand Prix ended with a rare lapse of judgment and a…

2 hours ago

Dutch GP: Norris triumphs as F1 bids farewell to Zandvoort

Lando Norris delivered a commanding performance to win a chaotic Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort,…

2 hours ago

2026 Dutch Grand Prix - Race results

Full race results from the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, round 12 of the 2026…

3 hours ago

Dutch GP red-flagged as Verstappen crashes heavily

Max Verstappen will have delivered a memorable final display to his fans in the Dutch…

5 hours ago