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Ricciardo bemused by Pirelli tyre options for Spanish GP

Daniel Ricciardo says Pirelli's decision to keep the hard tyre in its options for the Spanish Grand Prix is not 'going to be good for anyone' and is bemused by the selection given the modifications to the 2017 compounds.

As well as being wider and fatter this year the Formula 1 tyres have been made more durable by Pirelli in order to allow drivers to push to the limit, Ricciardo is surprised to see Pirelli stick with last year's options of supplying soft, medium and hard compounds for Circuit de Catalunya.

During pre-season testing teams rarely trialed the hard options due to a poor operating window, which was heightened by the cool track temperatures in March, and Ricciardo fears if track temperatures are low for the race weekend on the 12-14 May then it may leave teams with just the softs and mediums to use.

"We're going for the harder tyres for the first time this year in Barcelona. I'm not sure if it'll help us or not but I just don't think it's going to be good for anyone," Ricciardo said. "The tyres are already hard enough so the harder compounds are just way too hard.

"Hopefully for Barcelona's sake it's hot and therefore these harder tyres work, but if it's cold then it's going to be a struggle for everyone."

This year in Australia and Russia Pirelli opted to go a step softer compared to 2016 but went against the idea for the Spanish race. It will be the first time the new 2017 Pirelli hard compound tyres will be used.

Zdroj: crash.net