Pirelli focuses on soft compounds. The exclusive F1 tire supplier officially confirmed to the teams on Wednesday the selection of slick compounds for the sixth and seventh races of the season, scheduled for May 4 in Miami and May 18 in Imola. The news is that in both weekends, a set of softer compounds will be available compared to 2024.
For the first of the three American Grands Prix, C3, C4, and C5 were selected, following the selection already made for Melbourne and Jeddah. At Enzo and Dino Ferrari, however, the C6 will make its debut in the first European race, which is the softest compound in the 2025 range (identifiable by the red parentheses and Pirelli logo, along with C5 and C4).
“When we started planning the production and shipment of tires for the early races, we decided to test all the compounds of the new range in the first part of the season, which includes circuits with very different characteristics from each other,” explained Mario Isola, Director of Pirelli Motorsport. “This will help us gather the most useful information right away and then make the selections for the second half of the year.” – the Italian manager pointed out.
“For 2025, we have a wider range of options compared to 2024: the various compounds are positioned more efficiently in terms of performance difference, and in general, they seem to suffer less from both surface overheating and graining. This also allows us to experiment with new solutions, making choices that can create conditions for different competitive strategies, both in terms of tire usage and pit stop numbers.”
It should be said right away that Pirelli’s strategic change is not due to what was seen in the Japanese GP, where, thanks to the new asphalt in the snake section, the Suzuka track found unexpected grip that almost eliminated tire wear, allowing drivers to push from start to finish in a race that offered few overtakes, revealing the actual value of the cars and removing the possibility of playing with strategies with a single pit stop.
Tire allocations are decided well in advance to ensure shipments around the world, and it would be a mistake to think that skipping a compound could be the result of the Japanese race, which had few overtakes…
“We know well how teams and drivers have become very good at managing tires to maximize performance based on the result and how drivers always want to push to the limit to experience the emotions of driving that only a Formula 1 car can offer,” continued Mario Isola. “We had yet another confirmation of this last Sunday in Suzuka, where, even in a race not exactly thrilling in terms of on-track action, everyone expressed satisfaction with being able to continuously improve their lap times until the end of each stint.”
“However, we must balance this aspect with the desire, shared by all the protagonists of our sport, to create conditions for uncertain and spectacular races: tires and their behavior are an important part of the picture, and we, as a partner of Formula 1, want to be proactive.” – the Director of Pirelli Motorsport concluded.
Leave a Reply