Pirelli takes full range of slicks to Bahrain

Testing resumes in Bahrain on Wednesday with the full Pirelli range, though only Cadillac is taking advantage.

Formula 1 cars return to the Sakhir track on Wednesday for the second pre-season testing session in Bahrain. Teams will once again have three days to test their cars before the start of the championship.

While only the three hardest compounds in the Pirelli range were available last week, for the next three days, teams are able to select 24 sets from all five dry-weather options. Additionally, teams are permitted to carry over sets used for no more than 9 laps during the previous week.

The two most requested compounds are the C3 and C2, chosen by ten out of the eleven teams. Only Mercedes are sticking exclusively to the three hardest options, while McLaren, Ferrari, Racing Bulls, Audi, and Haas have added the C4 to their selection.

Red Bull, Alpine, Williams, and Aston Martin have opted for softer choices, the Austrian outfit limiting itself to the C2, C3, and C4, while Alpine and Williams have also included the C5. Aston Martin is the only team to have chosen strictly the three softest compounds (C3, C4, and C5). Newcomer, Cadillac, has spread its request across all available options: it is the only team to have at least one set of every dry compound.

Fans can distinguish the tyres via a specific identification system designed for testing: C1 and C2 with white logos, C3 and C4 with yellow logos and C5 with red logos.

The two compounds sharing the same colour will be distinguishable because the harder of the two will feature a chequered flag pattern on the sidewalls. Therefore, only the C2 and C4 will lack this decoration, featuring only the Pirelli and P Zero logos.