"The first three grands prix of the year will be hard and soft compounds, meaning that silver and yellow tyres will be first to make an appearance," the company said.
The combination of stiff construction with soft compounds (introduced to spice up the racing) means that the tyre's performance drops off very quickly, as without much help from any flexing of the tyre's structure, the compound gets abused and overheats.
Formula One rules require all teams to use both hard and soft compound tires for at least one stint in each race.
Hamilton is on soft compound, going for a longer first stint - they must be expecting rain, so looking to change only once.
On-air commentators for Speed TV speculated that with Hamilton making three stops, McLaren was trying to minimize the team's inability to make car work on soft compound tires.
His team manager, Vittoriano Guareschi, was honest enough to admit: "We can't put enough heat in the front tyre, whether we use the hard or the soft compound, and it doesn't give Valentino the confidence to push".
The stark difference between their qualifying performances was influenced largely by tyres, however, with Vettel on the quick but fragile soft compound and Alonso electing to start the race on the slower but more hard-wearing medium.
The Mexican was the only driver to make just one stop in finishing an impressive seventh, almost making a mockery of the soft compound rubber introduced by Pirelli to create more excitement, though his Sauber team were then penalised on a design technicality.
Hamilton, who had changed his tyres five laps earlier, was now required to build up a lead of about 28 seconds (the total time lost in an average pit stop) to allow him to change to the soft compound tyre and still come out in front of Sebastian Vettel, who was in second place.
Stoner wrongly chose a soft compound tyre on a track that dried faster than many expected (he blamed his team for the decision after the race), whilst the fact that Lorenzo raced at all was amazing, given his spectacular crash in practice on Friday.
Not for the first time in 2013, drivers' tyre choices are poised to play a huge role in the outcome of a race, with the Pirelli soft compound widely expected to suffer a big drop-off in pace as the laps unfold.
