Pirelli will debut their ‘supersoft’ tyre in Monaco this weekend, alongside the ‘soft’ option which has been used at every race this season so far.
Whilst the soft tyre has provided great grip during its opening 15 laps at most races, it has often been criticised for ‘falling off a cliff’ when the driver pushes too hard past those 15 or so laps.
Despite this, the Italian supplier will bring their supersoft tyre to Monte Carlo, admitting they don’t expect to see more than ten laps from each set if a driver is lucky.
“One of its characteristics is the remarkably short warm-up time, meaning that all the performance is available right from the beginning,” read the Pirelli preview.
It continued: “Its extremely soft compound consistency means that it has an anticipated range of fewer than 10 laps: even less at the beginning of a race when the cars are full of approximately 200 litres of fuel.”
Pirelli’s motorsport director, Paul Hembery, warned the teams to consider their strategies carefully given the tyres short-life span.
“The supersoft rubber is designed to provide outstanding performance over a short period of time but this comes at the price of durability, so all the teams will have to consider their strategies carefully.”
This could very well throw up some different strategic approaches to the race.
