Pirelli will give a new compound soft tire its racing debut in Brazil after a successful trial in Nurburgring free practice and last week's young driver test in Abu Dhabi. Teams will also try an experimental new hard tire in Friday practice.
The tire maker's motorsport director, Paul Hembery, said Pirelli had been satisfied with the performance of the new soft compound so far and now wants to see how it performs in race conditions.
"Preparations for the 2012 season are well under way, so it will be really interesting to hear the thoughts of the drivers about the new hard and soft tires that we will be trying out in Brazil," he said. "We've already collected plenty of information on the new soft tire from the young driver test, so it will be useful to compare that to real race data."
Hembery added that major changes to Pirelli's tire selections were in the cards for 2012, when it plans to take a more aggressive approach.
"It's important not to get too distracted by the names of the tires though: what we're calling a 'soft' for now could end up as a medium for next year, as that's what the testing process is all about," he said.
"In general, the tires are going to be less conservative next year as the second half of this season has shown how well the teams have understood our product, allowing us to make some reasonably aggressive choices such as super-soft and soft for Korea."