29/05/2018
NEWS STORY
Following its various issues with the hypersofts in Monaco - which marked the debut race appearance for the pink-banded rubber - Mercedes appears to be giving the compound a wide berth in Canada.
While Ferrari, Red Bull, Force India, Renault and Toro Rosso take 8 sets of the hypersofts to Montreal, and Williams, Haas, McLaren and Sauber 7, the world champions are taking a measly 5.
Instead, the German outfit goes big on the ultrasofts, taking 5 sets, while Force India and Sergey Sirotkin take 2 sets, and Lance Stroll just 1.
On the other hand, Stroll, who finished ninth last year, places lots of faith in the supersofts for his home race, taking 5 sets of the red-banded rubber, while the majority take only two or three sets.
Last year saw the softs, supersofts and ultrasofts in use, Lewis Hamilton winning the race on a one-stop strategy that saw him start on ultrasofts before switching to supers.
Only two drivers in the top fourteen stopped more than once, fourth-placed Sebastian Vettel and seventh-placed Kimi Raikkonen.