No hypersoft compound in Russia this season, confirm Pirelli

Pirelli have revealed the compounds available to all Formula 1 teams at the Russian Grand Prix later this season, as the Italian tyre manufacturer has opted not to bring the equivalent of last season's hypersoft tyre (now called C5) to Sochi.

Although the race won't be until September 29th, this could be significant. Getting the most out of the softest tyre available is something the teams have different degrees of success in, and it tends to shake up things quite a bit, especially during qualifying.

Last season, only Ferrari and Mercedes managed to get through Q2 on ultrasofts so they could start on them. The rest had to go on hypersofts on Saturday and pit very early on Sunday.

This September, this won't be the case, as the C2, C3 and C4 tyres will be the ones travelling to Sochi. The C2 will be the white 'hard' tyre, the C3 the 'medium' hard tyre, and the C4 will act as the yellow 'soft' tyre. The C5 won't be used until Belgium at the end of August.