Mercedes, Red Bull stack up ultrasoft tyres for Monaco

Pirelli has announced the tyre choices made by each team for the Monaco Grand Prix, which will see the new ultrasoft compound used for the very first time this year.

The purple-marked rubber has been introduced as part of new regulations, with teams now able to pick from three different tyre compounds with each driver receiving 13 sets.

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.

The soft, supersoft, and ultrasoft compounds have been nominated for the iconic Monte Carlo event and the tyre choices reveal a lot of variation up and down the field.

The Mercedes and Red Bull duos, as well as Renault's Kevin Magnussen, have gone for an aggressive strategy with 10 sets of ultrasofts. At the other end of that spectrum, Manor rookies Pascal Wehrlein and Rio Haryanto only have six sets of the softest compound available.

Teams have openly favoured Pirelli’s newest tyre to tackle the low-grip Circuit de Monaco, though Williams, Toro Rosso, McLaren-Honda, and Force India all have three sets of ultrasofts less than their Mercedes and Red Bull rivals.

Magnussen and Jolyon Palmer are the only driver pairing to go for different tyre choices within a team, as they differ between their supersoft and ultrasoft allocation. The British rookie will receive nine purple-marked sets, the same amount as the Ferrari and Haas drivers.

Finally, Sauber has gone for a middle-of-the-road option with eight purple-marked sets for Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr.

The full list of tyre choices for the Monaco Grand Prix can be found below:

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