Pirelli radical F1 tyre shake up, In the good old days of Formula One there were up to thirty three cars starting each weekend and the number of teams was far greater than we have now. Independent wealthy gentleman would buy a customer car and compete along with the mighty German auto manufacturers while the English garagistes were designing and building their own with a squad of around 12 engineers.

Much of the unpredictability of who would win each Grand Prix was due to the unreliability of the cars as the teams prioritised speed over longevity.    Pit stops were made because the fastest way to run a race was not to load the car with fuel so they could complete the race distance without making a refuelling stop.

 

 

 

Pirelli change the face of F1 tyre design

During certain eras the tyres were made to be bullet proof and drivers could start and finish the race on the same set of rubber. Qualifying engines were designed to run with little fluid and when the had completed the session, were literally thrown away. Around the turn of the millennium, races began to become processional the cars were more reliable and tyre degradation was minimal.

Often the TV commentary would have the pundits trying to make the races sound exciting when in reality the top teams cars were circulating with similar lap times and a driver catching another may close the gap by a mere 0.1/2 seconds a lap. In 2010 when Bridgestone bailed on F1 at relatively short notice, Michelin, Cooper Avon and Pirelli showed interest in taking over the role of tyre partner and supplier. On 24 June 2010, it was announced that Pirelli would be the sole tyre partner and supplier for 2011 and would receive a three-year contract.

Together with the FIA, Pirelli hatched a plan to design a range of F1 tyres which were intended to degrade far more quickly than the bullet proof Bridgestones. Three years earlier the FIA introduced a rule that each driver must use two different set of the Bridgestone compounds in a race in an effort to spice proceedings up, but the durability of the Bridgestones meant little changed other than no driver could run the race without pitting (except under red flag conditions).

The voyage of adventure Pirelli set sail upon was not without its difficulties, creating a tyre which would last for between a third and half of the race was not a simple matter. Different circuits had diffident asphalt characteristics and some had predominantly high speed configurations whilst others were more point and squirt.

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More street circuits require softer tyres

Street circuits too with their smooth asphalt and slower average lap times were often kinder on the tyres, so a range of compounds were designed and Pirelli would decide which were the most appropriate for each track.

Pirelli currently manufacture five dry weather tyres for F1 and the compounds are named C1 through to C5. The hardest tyre which degrades more slower but runs at a slower speed is the C1 and the C5 is much softer, gives more grip which leads to faster lap times, but it degrades significantly quicker than those harder compounds in the range.

Despite taking the softest three compounds in the range to the recent Monaco Grand Prix, following the lap one red flag, thos who had started on the medium switched to the hard before the restart and those on the hard fitted the medium. Lewis Hamilton was nervous his medium tyres would not last the distance, yet in the end many of the drivers completed the remaining 77 laps on whichever compound they had at the second standing start.

The Italian tyre manufacturer conducted a test this week at Le Casetellet’s Paul Ricard circuit in France with Ferrari and Carlos Sainz being the drivers testing amongst other things a new C6 super soft compound.

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Even softer compound now tested

Pireli’s motorsport director Mario Isola explained to The Times, “The idea is to introduce a new C6 compound, a softer one, because in the calendar we have more and more street circuits and we need softer compounds.

“We will move the range on the soft side, always trying to remove overheating. The real problem is to find the right trade-off between overheating and degradation.”

For 2025 Pirelli intend to increase the range of compounds to six and are discussing with the FIA whether to take four compounds to each race, rather than the current three which form simplicity they call the soft, medium and hard. Drivers have also complained about this years rubber overheating too easily, forcing them to drive more slowly than they capable of, which reduces the spectacle to more of a game of chess rather than high speed racing competition.

“The risk is that if you reduce the overheating they change [tyres] less because obviously they can run more laps without high degradation. If we go in this direction, then we need to have softer compounds in the range,” explains Isola. This of course will encourage more changes of tyres in each race and add a level of jeopardy as different teams decide on different tyre strategies.

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Hamilton says this seasons tyres are ‘the worst’

Lewis Hamilton has complained bitterly over this year’s Pirelli offerings: “I think we’re just working in a really, like, minuscule window of tyre temp[eratures],” Hamilton said after following the Miami Grand Prix “I think it’s this tyre. Definitely, in all my career, I don’t remember ever having such a small window of working.

“Honestly, it’s probably the most frustrating thing. You look back in the day where you had a much bigger working window to work with. Then you can just optimise the balance and then just have good grip throughout the whole lap. This is definitely my least favourite [tyres of his career].”

Next stop for the F1 circus is Montreal Canada which is a street track style configuration on the Ilse de Notre Dame. The race promoters have resurfaced the circuit for this years Grand Prix and so both Pirelli and the teams are going somewhat into the unknown. A resurfaced track retains much of the oils close to the surface, which can offer up less grip for the drivers, but the tyres will slide around through the corners.

So the rubber degradation could be higher than usual at this seasons Canadian Grand Prix, but we’ll only know when the cars hit the track in anger for free practice one on Friday morning.

Modern uber reliable F1 cars and a field of highly skilled drivers don’t make for exciting racing and so its down to Pirelli to strike the perfect note, allow the drivers to push hard and not feel the need to manage the tyres but make them degrade forcing exiting pit stops and different race strategies.

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Seven-time Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton held nothing back in a revealing interview on the popular YouTube show Hot Ones. Speaking to host Sean Evans, Hamilton candidly discussed his ongoing struggles with the performance of his Mercedes W15 car, highlighting a sense of constant conflict with his car during races.

Since the introduction of new regulations in 2022, Mercedes have seen a significant drop in performance and have struggled to secure podium finishes. Hamilton’s last victory came in the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

In 2024, Mercedes are the fourth-fastest team on the grid, behind Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren. Both Hamilton and his team-mate George Russell have frequently spoken of their lack of confidence in the car…. READ MORE