Motorsport director Paul Hembery said: “You would say, based on wear levels, four.
“But we did see that, in Melbourne and Sepang, the evolution of the circuit was such that the pre-race predictions were reduced because the rubber was going down on the circuit which reduces the wear of the tyres.
“We have GP2 and GP3 running as well which means we have a lot of support races which we didn’t see in Shanghai.
“So I’m saying four to start with but it wouldn’t surprise me if we get that down to three.”
Hembery also refuted claims the tyres have created ‘artificial’ racing:
“The number of people who’ve called to say ‘what a great race, that was fantastic’ has far outweighed a few people who’ve said ‘maybe this is slightly false and contrived’.
“All motor sport is contrived in one way or form and I think most people want to see exciting action, they want to see overtaking manoeuvres.
“They want to see Mark Webber going from the back of the grid and getting on the podium, that makes a great story and it makes you want to watch the race.
“And, of course, you can’t sleep any more on a Sunday. It used to be you could watch the start, if there wasn’t any incidents there you could fall asleep, wake up in two hours and they’d still be in the same order.
“That’s not the case any more. We’re one element, of course, of the package, between KERS and the rear wing [DRS], that are assisting the overtaking and making things a little bit more lively.
“But the tyre strategy is proving to be, at least at the start of the season, a major element in creating some open racing.”
See more from Hembery in this video: Pirelli plan to introduce ‘super-hard’ tyre in Spain