[E90SLAM]

http://en.espnf1.com/malaysia/motors...ory/45305.html

Pirelli has introduced a gold stripe to the outer edge of its soft tyres to make it easier to differentiate between its two compounds.

After the first race in Australia it became apparent that, from certain camera angles, it was not always obvious which compound was being used. As a result Pirelli has taken a leaf from Bridgestone's book by painting the outer edge of the soft tyres' wall.

Autosport is reporting that a more permanent solution will be found for the European races and quoted Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery as saying: "We have obviously had a number of comments that people could not recognise the tyres, and the stripe is not an ideal solution. For Turkey, we will have a much stronger branding on the sidewall. We won't have the stripe; we will connect up the Pirelli and P-Zero wording with more bands of colour.

"It will mean that as it rotates, the black won't dominate. It will look like a turning circle of yellow - and be predominantly yellow in colour. We will do the same branding for all of the different compounds. From the testing we have done so far, it seems to work very well."

Hembery confirmed that three-stop strategies were likely in Malaysia this weekend, assuming the race stays dry.

"About the only thing you can rely on here is the fact that it will rain hard in the afternoon and because of this we expect our wet tyres to play a key role here," he added. "When it's dry, we expect the hard tyre to be well-suited to the conditions, as ambient temperatures are going to be a lot hotter than they were in Australia. Due to the aggressive surface that we have in Malaysia and the hot weather, we expect to see more pit stops: about three, which could increase to four if the teams have to change between wet tyres, which is more than likely."