Tyre preview: Ferrari with most soft, Alpine with most hard compounds at the Bahrain test
Ferrari opted for the highest number of soft slick tyres for the three-day Bahrain pre-season testing while reigning champion team Red Bull elected to pick a huge number of hard compounds for the vital Bahrain running. F1Technical's senior writer Balázs Szabó takes a look at teams's individual tyre selection for the sole pre-season testing.
Formula One's sole tyre supplier Pirelli has brought seven different tyre to Bahrain - five dry-weather and two wet-weather tyres.
Formula One's sole tyre supplier Pirelli has brought seven different tyre compounds to Bahrain - five dry-weather and two wet-weather tyres. With the weather set to be consistent and dry throughout the Bahrain test week, the two different wet-weather tyres might not come into force, albeit each team has been given two sets of both the intermediate and the wet-weather tyres.
As for the dry-weather compounds, teams had a free choice to determine how many sets of the different compounds they wanted to be allocated with for the three-day running. Pirelli has made tweaks to its tyre allocation for 2024 by having eliminated the most durable compound that used to be referred to as C0 last year as it was actually never used last year. It leaves teams with five different slick tyres for the season, with three compounds set to be selected by Pirelli for each race weekend.
However, for Bahrain, teams could use any type of compound regardless the fact that the two softest compounds, the C4 and C5 are not going to make an appearance at next weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix.
There are differences regarding the choices of teams. Ferrari have ordered the most soft compounds, having selected six C4 and two C2 compounds. On the other end of the spectrum, Alpine have ordered the most C1 compounds with eleven sets.
As for the C5 compounds, only Ferrari, Mercedes, Williams and Stake F1 have ordered two sets of the softest compound. These teams might possibly give both their drivers a single set of the softest compound towards the dying phase of the three-day test. The C5 tyre is usually not suited for the abrasive surface of the Bahrain International Circuit, and drivers lose the edge grip of the tyre at the end of the lap.
Unsurprisingly, the C3 medium compound has proved the most favourable. Mercedes selected the highest number of the C3 compound with 25 sets while Williams opted for just 15 sets of the medium tyres.
The choices of the ten teams for the tests in Bahrain:
