Hartley: 'Huge' Hypersoft laps to spice up qualifying

Brendon Hartley believes the new Hypersoft Formula 1 tyre compound will help to spice up qualifying through the 2018 season as drivers chase a "huge" lap time at the possible expense of a brief opening stint of the race.

Pirelli announced last November it would be introducing the Hypersoft tyre to F1 as the softest compound in its range, offering more grip than the Ultrasoft while being less durable.

The tyre will debut at the Monaco Grand Prix in May before returning for the Canadian Grand Prix the following month, and is also expected to feature at low grip street circuits later in the year.

Drivers enjoyed extended runs on the Hypersoft tyre through pre-season testing in Barcelona, with Hartley expecting it to make qualifying particularly exciting when pushing to the limit on low fuel.

"There’s great grip there so I think all the drivers have got smiles on their faces after we use that tyre," Toro Rosso driver Hartley said.

"It will be interesting to see how that plays out in qualifying during the year because it doesn’t have the durability of the other tyres. If you qualified on it and started the race on it, it could mix things up a bit.

"I think it will make qualifying quite exciting, having a tyre that can produce huge lap time for one lap, and then if you have to race with it can be interesting.

"But I think there’s a really broad range. The medium and soft tyres have really good durability and we’re doing really good long runs.

"There’s a tyre for everything, but I think that will make tyre selection for the races tricky, but maybe more exciting for the fans."