Pirelli rules out ultrasoft tyre for Russian GP

Pirelli has announced the three tyre compounds for this year’s Russian Grand Prix, with the Italian company nominating the medium, soft, and supersoft.

Formula One’s official supplier already picked the same tyres for the opening three races in Australia, Bahrain, and China. Pirelli had been conservative in its tyre nomination for the inaugural 2014 Sochi event, and went for a more aggressive strategy last year by bringing its softest product.

The Black Sea venue's low-degradation characteristics might have suited Pirelli’s new-for-2016 ultrasoft tyre but the Milan-based firm ruled out against it and is likely to introduce the purple-walled compound at Monaco.

New regulations see three compounds chosen by Pirelli for each grand prix weekend, with the softest one required to be used in Q3 and at least one of two compounds nominated by Pirelli mandatory for the race.

As a result, one set of supersoft tyres must be used in the final phase of qualifying, while Pirelli has selected the medium and soft as the race compounds. F1 teams are therefore able to freely pick 10 out of their allocated 13 tyre sets.

This year's Russian Grand Prix takes place on April 29 - May 1, a much earlier date than the October slot of the past two editions.

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