Wolff dislikes Hyper-soft tyres

Mercedes didn’t use a single set of Pirelli’s new hyper soft compound during pre-season testing with Toto Wolff believing they are only good for one hot lap.

On the final few days of testing, the five fastest times were all set using the new hyper soft tyres. Mercedes, using the ultra soft, finished in 8th and 10th.

Wolf explained the decision not to send his drivers out on the new compound: “We decided not to use the hyper soft as we felt it is a tyre that is usable for one lap only - in testing it is about collecting data and understanding set-ups.

“The hyper soft is just an additional big step in grip from the ultra soft. It will be a qualifying tyre and we felt that we would rather concentrate on the development work than on single lap.

“I think the hyper will be a qualifying tyre only, and you just need to hang onto it in the first couple of laps and survive.”

It was well documented during testing that Hamilton and Bottas both reported tyre blistering. Their team principle is also unimpressed with this seasons tyres.

“What we have seen is that the steps in performance and in grip between the tyre compounds was relatively small.

“Between medium and soft, soft and supersoft, supersoft and ultrasoft you could see tiny steps, between a tenth or two sometimes no step at all. With some team like Williams there was no step at all.”

Toto Wolff has to wait six races before the hyper soft compound comes into play in Monaco.