Pirelli has announced it will bring medium, soft and super-soft tyres to the 2016 opener in Australia, the first race since the change in compound regulations.
Rule tweaks announced at the start of December aim to give drivers greater choice over which compound they have available during a race weekend. Of the 13 sets available to each driver, Pirelli will choose two for the race (at least one of which must be used in the race), and one set for Q3.
The opening race of the 2016 calendar is at Melbourne's Albert Park on March 20 and Pirelli has selected medium, soft and super-soft. One set each of medium and soft have been set aside for the race, with drivers having to use "at least one of them" in the grand prix itself.
One set of super-soft tyres have been assigned for Q3 in qualifying. The drivers then have free choice between the remaining ten sets of tyres available from the three compounds selected over the course of the race weekend.
Pirelli has clarified that drivers who do not make it through to Q3 will keep the extra set of super-soft tyres for the race, as is the case within the current regulations. Next year will see the debut of the ultra-soft compound, the softest in Pirelli's new range, though that is unlikely to feature anywhere but street circuits.
The 2016 Sporting Regulations state teams must make Pirelli aware of their selections eight weeks before a race in Europe and 14 weeks before an event outside Europe. In that time frame, teams have until December 17 to make the Italian supplier aware of their selections after the original deadline was extended due to the tyre test in Abu Dhabi. If a team misses the deadline, Pirelli makes the selection on its behalf.