Pirelli expects varied tyre strategies for Bahrain GP in Malaysia

Pirelli has selected the C2, C3 and C4 compounds for the race in Malaysia, which Autosport describes as the substitute host of the Bahrain Grand Prix. Its motorsport chief, Dario Marrafuschi, expects teams to split between two- and three-stop strategies. He also expects all three compounds to appear somewhere on the starting grid.

Pirelli's quickest projected option is a two-stop race on medium, hard and hard tyres. It estimates that would save about two seconds over a soft-hard-hard approach across the race. A three-stop strategy is projected to be only about five seconds slower than a two-stop, leaving teams with several plausible choices.

Tyre availability could shape those choices. Max Verstappen returned an unused hard-tyre set after second practice, while Charles Leclerc used a hard set in third practice. Autosport reports that both may need longer stints on soft or medium tyres to make a two-stop strategy work. Marrafuschi also raised the possibility of using only mediums and softs, provided the soft tyres are treated gently early in a stint.

Those calculations are for dry tyres. A downpour could force teams onto wet-weather tyres instead, changing the decisions they face during Sunday's race.