The two title contending teams, Mercedes and Ferrari, have stuck to their respective strengths with tyre choices for this weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang.
Italian supplier Pirelli has gone slightly more aggressive with the compounds available compared to last year with the Supersoft tyre brought to this race for the first time and the Hard ditched for the remainder of the season after much criticism in its only outing back in Spain.
The tropical temperatures combined with the fast, sweeping layout make Sepang one of the hardest circuits of the year on the tyres and therefore Pirelli is anticipating a two-stop race for most.
Two years ago, tyres were a major factor as Sebastian Vettel was able to beat the two Mercedes in a straight fight and claim his first win for the Scuderia and that memory will give the German hope he can bounce back from the disappointment of Singapore almost two weeks ago.
The slight difference now is the use of three compounds plus the clear pace advantage the Brackley team has had on harder tyres compared to Ferrari which they hope will give them the edge this weekend.
Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas have gone among the most conservative in their allocation as a result, with just seven sets of the red-marked Supersofts compared to nine for the Italian team and Max Verstappen in the Red Bull.
Hamilton, along with Romain Grosjean and Pascal Wehrlein, has the most Softs of anyone with five, while his teammate has opted for two sets of the Mediums compared to just one for the Briton.
Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen have three sets of Softs and one Medium to make up their total of 13, with Daniel Ricciardo the odd-one-out in the top six with eight Supersofts, four Softs and a single Medium.
Force India and Toro Rosso have also followed the Australian with both drivers while rivals Williams have matched McLaren with the most aggressive strategy of 10 Supersofts, two Softs and one Medium.
With a large performance difference between the compounds likely due to the high-speed corners and several key traction zones, should the Supersoft prove durable Ferrari could well be in the box seats, however, if degradation makes the Soft the ideal tyre, Mercedes could take another major step towards retaining their titles.
Full tyre choices can be seen below:
