F1 News, Reports and Race Results

Mercedes, Ferrari go softer than Red Bull in Monza tyres

Pirelli has announced the tyre choices made by each team for the upcoming Italian Grand Prix, which sees Mercedes and Ferrari take one extra set of supersofts than Red Bull.

F1’s official supplier has nominated the medium, soft, and supersoft compound for Monza with most teams loading up on the red-marked rubber for the high-speed venue.

However, team-mates Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen - as well as the Sauber pairing - will have the fewest sets of supersofts available with six apiece, one less than their Mercedes and Ferrari rivals.

At the other end of that spectrum, newcomers Haas have gone for an aggressive strategy with nine sets of the softest compound available to Romain Grosjean and Esteban Gutierrez.

Overall, the Italian GP tyre selection reveals a lot of variety up and down the field, as well as within the teams. For instance, championship leader Lewis Hamilton will receive only one set of mediums against two for his team-mate and title rival Nico Rosberg.

With Pirelli making one set of mediums and one set of softs the mandatory race tyres for Monza - of which one set must be used - this means that Hamilton, but also Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, Williams’ Valtteri Bottas, Renault’s Kevin Magnussen, and Grosjean have effectively not chosen any extra medium tyres.

Like in Germany before the summer break, the Force India duo of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg will have the biggest medium tyre allocation with three sets of the white-marked compound apiece.

All teams had to make their selection eight weeks in advance of the final European race of the season.

©Pirelli Motorsport

GALLERY: F1 drivers on summer break

How Eric Boullier keeps McLaren on its toes

Pascal Wehrlein interview: The rookie who wants to lead

F1i Classic - Mayhem, monsoon and the mother of all Belgian Grand Prix

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

Julien Billiotte

Recent Posts

‘That was on me’ – Perez owns up to Shanghai tangle with Bottas

Last weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix was barely a few corners old before the black-and-white Cadillacs…

2 hours ago

Leclerc defies peers, defends F1 new era: ‘It doesn’t feel artificial’

The 2026 Formula 1 season has touched down with the subtlety of a localized earthquake,…

4 hours ago

Norris: McLaren ‘not at level we need’ but confident of turnaround

Lando Norris was denied the chance to race in Shanghai, but the reigning world champion…

5 hours ago

A picture-perfect St. Patrick's Day!

Bring out your green, for it's St. Patrick's Day, which is the perfect excuse for…

7 hours ago

Wolff's Mercedes heritage flight for past and present stars

Once a Mercedes driver, always a Mercedes driver – and apparently always welcome aboard Toto…

8 hours ago

Very happy Gasly says Alpine now ‘in a completely different league’

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly walked away from last weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix with a smile –…

8 hours ago