Mercedes, Ferrari pick same tyres for Malaysia

Pirelli has revealed the tyre choices made by all Formula One teams for the upcoming Malaysian Grand Prix, which will see Mercedes and Ferrari receive the same allocations though both teams have split their strategies between their drivers.

F1’s official tyre supplier has nominated its hard, medium, and soft compound for the Sepang event, with most teams favouring the yellow-marked rubber.

The Mercedes duo will slightly differ on their hard/medium allocations since F1 points leader Nico Rosberg will have one extra set of mediums available compared to his title rival Lewis Hamilton. Both will get the same amount of softs with seven sets apiece.

Ferrari has proceeded in similar fashion, as Sebastian Vettel receives four sets of the middle compound while Kimi Raikkonen only has three.

Red Bull has gone one step harder than its rivals, with only six sets of soft tyres made available to both Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen.

Junior team Toro Rosso has come up with the most aggressive strategy, as Carlos Sainz and Daniil Kvyat receive eight sets of the softest rubber each.

Overall, the Malaysian GP tyre selection reveals less variety than last weekend’s Singapore race, though Williams, Haas, Renault, and Manor have also split their tyre allocations between their drivers.

All teams had to make their selection 14 weeks in advance of the Kuala Lumpur contest, whill will be the third race featuring the hardest, orange-walled tyre this year after Barcelona and Silverstone.

It will be interesting to see if the late September/early October date - combined with the recent surfacing of the Sepang International Circuit - will have an impact on tyre management.

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