Formula One's new tyre supplier Pirelli having confirmed which tyre compounds they will be bringing to the first four rounds of the calendar. All four races - in Bahrain, Australia, Malaysia and China - will have the same allocation and teams will be running the hard tyre and the soft tyre. These compounds are two steps apart, which is similar to the tactic that Bridgestone took to try and spice up the racing action. Pirelli have studied the data and picked these as the ideal tyres.

This decision has been made in accordance with the track characteristics in the Middle and Far East, which offer high grip and a wide variety of speeds and corners, as well as ambient and track temperatures that are likely to be high.

- Pirelli Statement

Last year, Bridgestone ran different compounds at all three of the opening races, mixing up the different compounds for added strategy. For 2011, Pirelli are suggesting that their rubber will likely require two pit stops during a Grand Prix, and after days of testing in Spain, the drivers confirm that tyre wear is high.

We see some drop in the tyres when they are new. The first lap is good and then you lose two or three seconds a lap. Then you are more or less consistent but obviously too slow.

- Fernando Alonso

However, the new tyres aren't necessarily going to be a bad move, and mixing up things for the teams. Whilst some of the drivers are concerned about the rate of wear, Pirelli say it is going as expected, and some of the other racers are more confident that it will be a positive change for the sport.

It will make the racing more exciting. We have seen in the past that the most exciting races were when the tyres collapsed in the biggest way, like Montreal last year, so that is not an issue.

- Nico Rosberg

There are still two more tests for teams to get a further understanding of the rubber, and just over 20 days before we'll get to see the Pirelli tyres in full on race action for the first time.