For the 2009 season the FIA requested that Bridgestone widen the grip level between the two compounds it brings to each track. All drivers must use both compounds during the race. During the 2008 season there was very little difference between the compounds at some tracks, negating this rule to some extent. Thus Bridgestone was instructed to run their super soft and medium compounds at the 2009 Australian GP. This resulted in a massive difference between the two types of tires. It was most apparent with the Ferrari’s, both of which started on the super-softs. After only 5 or 6 laps the tires were destroyed, ruining the team’s strategy. Things did not go much better for the other teams (except of course, the dominating Brawns). This change in rules can probably even be blamed for the crash between Vettel and Kubica. Vettel had no grip on the option tires, and was simply not able to slow his car down enough.

Despite this, teams have already been warned that they will have to nurse their tires even more during the Malaysian GP. The Sepang track has many long sweeping corners, putting a lot of strain on the tires. The teams will probably be able to adapt their strategies to working around this problem; however, it may cause potentially dangerous situations. We will see as the season progresses what effect it will have on the races. What we will most probably see is teams running extremely short stints on the option (soft) tires.