Today is the 17th May 2011 and this is F1Minute.

It is the Spanish Grand Prix this weekend, and Pirelli have today confirmed they will be bringing a new hard compound to Barcelona. The tyre suppliers have always been open to tweaking the compounds if necessary, and were prepared for this change. The tyre was taken to Turkey and tested out during Friday practice and Pirelli liked the results. They admitted after the Turkish race that a four stop strategy was not the ideal, that they’d prefer three stops to be a more manageable solution - and that’s what they’re expecting in Spain.

Pirelli boss Paul Hembery says of this new tyre: “It’s not a huge step over the original hard tyre but it does mean that there is a bigger gap between the soft and the hard tyre, which will definitely make things even more interesting on race day and give teams the opportunity to use more creative strategies.”

He added: “It takes a lot longer to enter and leave the pits in Barcelona than it did in Turkey, and this is another factor that will have a definite influence on strategy.”