Daniil Kvyat hopes Red Bull's aggressive tyre choice for the Russian Grand Prix “will pay off later in the weekend”.
The Milton Keynes outfit has selected 10 sets of supersofts for both its drivers, with only two sets of softs and one of mediums also available to Kvyat and team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.
While very low-grip conditions in Friday practice suited the red-marked compound, the track is expected to improve gradually as more rubber is laid down. Asked whether he was worried about the amount of supersofts he has compared to other tyres, Kvyat replied:
“I think time will show obviously, I think Friday maybe wasn’t the most real thing but who knows maybe it will pay off later in the weekend. I think we have to decide first... Anyway we had both compounds on Friday [soft and supersoft] and I think the super-softs work fine.
“Short runs, long runs, we changed the tyre to see which one works better or different, so it will be interesting on Saturday to understand a strategy for qualifying. It seems like we can play around a little bit more than usual here and the race pace will be interesting too so there are plenty of things to think about.”
As part of new regulations, teams can now pick from three different tyre compounds nominated by official supplier Pirelli, with an allocation of 13 sets per driver.
Of those 13 sets, Pirelli will select two sets that have to be allocated for the race (of which a driver must use one set), while a set of the softest available compound may only be used in Q3. Teams are then free to choose the remaining ten sets.
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