Race Date: 21 Apr 2013
Circuit Name: Bahrain International Circuit
First Grand Prix: 2004
Number of Laps: 57
Circuit Length: 5.412 km
Race Distance: 308.238 km
Lap Record: 1:30.252 - M Schumacher (2004)
Bahrain Grand Prix: Pirelli decide against using soft tyres
http://www.bbc.co.ukFormula 1 tyre suppliers Pirelli will not use their soft tyres at the Bahrain Grand Prix this weekend after concerns about how quickly they wear out.
No driver managed more than seven laps on soft tyres in China last week.
The decision to bring the hard and medium compounds was made after the Malaysian Grand Prix, a similar track.
"Bahrain is one of the most demanding tracks because of high ambient and track temperatures," said Pirelli's motorsport director Paul Hembery.
Soft and medium tyres were used in last year's Bahrain Grand Prix. All drivers are required to use both tyre compounds during a dry race.
"We expect about three stops per car," Hembery added.
Tyre degradation is expected to be reasonably high during the race in Bahrain, the fourth grand prix of the 2013 season.
Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel leads the driversstanding after three races, with Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen second and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, who won in Shanghai last week, third.
http://www.autosport.Pirelli's decision to switch its compound choice for the Bahrain Grand Prix was made several weeks ago and was not a reaction to what happened in China, AUTOSPORT has learned.
Formula 1's tyre supplier has brought the medium and hard compound to this weekend's race at Sakhir, having originally intended to use the soft and hard compound for round four of the 2013 Formula 1 world championship.
However, having seen how its new more aggressive compounds reacted in the opening two grands prix, the Italian company elected to change its plans in the days after the Malaysian race.
It believed that with teams having experienced high degradation at Sepang, it would be better at the abrasive Bahrain circuit to use its most conservative choice.
The decision to use the medium instead of the soft was communicated to the teams before the Chinese Grand Prix - a race that fuelled intensecdebateabout the impact tyres are having on F1 racing this year.
News of the change of compound choice was only made public earlier this week.
Pirelli is also awaiting a decision from the FIA and teams over its proposal for teams using rookies in free practice to get an extra set of tyres, as revealed by AUTOSPORT.
It is hoped the matter will be voted on over the Bahrain GP weekend