Pirelli says its Indian Grand Prix tyre allocation choices will shape its 2012 strategy

The usual practice is for teams to get five sets of the softer of Pirelli's tyre choices each weekend, and six of the harder - but some of these tend to be unused.

For India, the allocation will be the other way around, with six softs and five hards provided.

Pirelli's motorsport boss Paul Hembery says the results of that choice this weekend will help the firm plan what to do in 2012.

"We've opted for a deliberately conservative nomination in selecting the hard tyre alongside the soft, simply because on a brand new circuit you are never quite sure of the exact race conditions you will encounter," he said.

"But we've structured the allocation in such a way that we think the teams will run more on the softer tyres, particularly because we are bringing an extra set of soft compound tyres for Friday.

"This will help us to make some decisions about our strategy for next year, particularly after we saw the excellent durability of the softer compounds."

HRT driver Narain Karthikeyan reckons the difference in speed between the hards and softs will be dramatic.

"The lap time difference between the hard and soft tyres is going to be huge, maybe in excess of two seconds a lap," he said.

"I'd expect the teams to use the hard as less as possible: maybe just a short final stint in the race as the benefits in lap time produced by the soft tyre should outweigh its shorter life as the track surface isn't abrasive at all and track temperatures I think should be under 40 degrees during the weekend."

Hembery agreed that this was likely.

"It's too early to talk about the number of pitstops we expect this weekend, but we anticipate a reasonably significant lap time difference between the two compounds," he said.