Pirelli confirms Belgian and Japanese compound choices

Pirelli has confirmed which tires it will make available at the Belgian and Japanese races, the 13th and 17th rounds of the 2016 championship.

The new tire rules stipulate that compound choices must be made eight weeks in advance for European races and 14 weeks for long-haul events, hence confirmation of two races which are several weeks apart.

For the Belgian Grand Prix, the white medium, yellow soft and red supersoft will be available – the most common combination this season.

The mandatory race sets are the medium and soft, one of which must be used during the race at some stage. The supersoft must be used in the final stage of qualifying (Q3).

Japan will see the same compound choice as the Spanish GP, with the soft, medium and orange hard available.

The hard tire is the mandatory race set and must be used at some stage, unless the race is declared wet. The soft has been designated the qualifying tire.

Drivers must now select their remaining ten sets for each race.

Pirelli's 2016 tire choices so far:

Australia – Super Soft / Soft / Medium
Bahrain – Super Soft / Soft / Medium
China – Super Soft / Soft / Medium
Russia – Super Soft / Soft / Medium
Spain – Soft / Medium / Hard
Monaco – Ultra Soft / Super Soft / Soft
Canada – Ultra Soft / Super Soft / Soft
Azerbaijan – Super Soft / Soft / Medium
Austria – Ultra Soft / Super Soft / Soft
Britain – Soft / Medium / Hard
Hungary – Super Soft / Soft / Medium
Germany – Super Soft / Soft / Medium
Belgium – Super Soft / Soft / Medium
Singapore – Ultra Soft / Super Soft / Soft
Malaysia – Soft / Medium / Hard
Japan – Soft / Medium / Hard