Pirelli has announced its three tyre compound choices for the Russian Grand Prix, the fourth race of the 2016 season.
As with the opening three races of the season, the Italian manufacturer will bring medium, soft and super-soft tyres to the Sochi event on May 1. The tweaked rules for this year aim to give drivers greater choice over which tyres they have available for race weekends.
There are now 13 sets of tyres available to a driver over a weekend. Pirelli says one set each of medium and soft tyres must be put aside for the race, at least one of which must be used during the grand prix. One set of super-soft tyres will be assigned for Q3 only, with drivers who do not make it to the final session simply having that set transferred across for use in the race.
Of the remaining sets now available for drivers for the weekend, drivers and teams are free to decide which compound they use. The Russian Grand Prix has moved to the front end of the calendar this year after spending the first two years of its tenure in F1 being scheduled in October.