19/09/2017
NEWS STORY
Title rivals Mercedes and Ferrari have taken different directions on their Sepang tyre choices, with the German taking a conservative approach and its Italian rivals going aggressive.
That said, while Ferrari, like Renault, is taking 9 sets of the red-banded supersoft tyre, Williams and McLaren are taking 10.
Mercedes, on the other hand, like Haas and Sauber, is taking 7 sets, while Toro Rosso and Force India take 8.
At Red Bull, 2016 race winner Daniel Ricciardo favours 8 sets of the supersofts while teammate Max Verstappen opts for 9.
With all but Bottas, Magnussen and Ericsson taking just one set of the hardest (medium) compound, Hamilton, Grosjean and Wehrlein take 5 sets of the yellow-banded softs.
The compounds are a step softer than 2016 when the hards, mediums and softs were used.
Ricciardo won the 2016 race on a two-stop strategy, starting on softs, before switching to hards and then back to softs.