28/03/2018
NEWS STORY
As in 2017 and 2016, Pirelli is making the supersoft, soft and medium available for the desert race next weekend.
And while the majority of teams are taking seven sets of the softest rubber, following its strong start to the season in Melbourne, McLaren is going full-on aggressive, Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne both taking nine sets of the red-banded rubber.
The Force India, Renault and Haas duos all take 8 sets of the supersofts, while Bottas, Stroll and Gasly take 5 sets of the softs.
Indeed, while teammates appear to agree on the supersofts, in terms of the soft and medium tyres no less than five teams see a difference of opinion in terms of the two harder compounds.
Ferrari, on the other hand, like Red Bull, Renault and McLaren sees both its drivers following similar strategies on all three compounds.
Last year's race, which was held later in the month (April), saw Vettel take victory on a two-stop strategy, the German starting on the supersofts before another stint on the red-banded rubber before finally switching to softs.
A similar strategy was used by third and fourth placed Bottas and Raikkonen, while second-placed Hamilton started on supers before switching to softs for his final two stints.