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Pirelli announces compound choices for opening races

ESPNF1 Staff
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Pirelli has announced which of its new compounds will be used at each of the first three races of the year, with its new soft and medium compound tyres set to travel to the season-opener in Australia.

The Italian tyre manufacturer picks two of its four compounds (supersoft, soft, medium, hard) to take to each race, and it has selected the medium and hard compounds for the second round at the high-speed Sepang circuit in Malaysia and the soft and mediums for the third round in China.

Pirelli has revised its tyres this year to narrow the performance gap between compounds and open up strategy options for the teams. The Malaysian Grand Prix will be the first time Pirelli's medium and hard compounds have appeared together, although this year's versions of the tyres are softer than last year's.

Under the regulations each driver will receive six sets of the harder compound and five sets of the softer compound for the race weekend and Pirelli will also bring its intermediate tyre (four sets per driver) as well as its full wet tyre (three sets per driver) in case of rain.

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