F1, Pirelli: 2025 construction approved, now focus on compounds. Pirelli is working to outline the tires for 2025.

The 2024 Formula 1 season is entering its final phase, with six race weekends left and an open world championship fight. However, attention is also being directed towards the future, particularly 2025, as teams are already working behind the scenes on two fronts: developing the cars for next year and studying the 2026 regulations.

Pirelli is already active on both fronts, having tested the first prototypes for the next technical cycle last September with Aston Martin. The main objective was not only to verify the quality of the first prototypes but also to check the correlation between simulations and the mule car, as it will be difficult to replicate how downforce will be developed with future cars. The next tests will be with McLaren and Alpine, the latter scheduled to test wet tires towards the end of the year.

While that program is still in its early stages, the work for 2025 is much more advanced, with specific tests carried out during the season. The construction of next year’s tires has already been approved and homologated, considering that Pirelli must confirm its choices by September 1st, as agreed with the Federation.

“As for the construction, the new specifications have been homologated, as per regulations. Now we are in the fine-tuning phase for the compounds. We have some options,” explained Mario Isola, head of Pirelli Motorsport. The construction phase was carried out in the first part of the season, using a wide range of tracks, both high-speed circuits like Suzuka and slower ones, to gather references on different types of tracks that pose various challenges.

Now the focus shifts to outlining the new specifications for the compounds, with specific tests on tracks designed to evaluate certain compounds. For example, to determine the harder compounds, Mugello will be used, a track full of high-speed corners that put tires under stress, requiring more durable compounds.

It is interesting to note, as confirmed by Mario Isola, that this year again, the second free practice session in Mexico will be extended by 30 minutes to allow teams to test the softer compounds directly on track, as Pirelli will bring the three softest tires in the range to that event: C3, C4, and C5.

“We have tests at Mugello, where we will define the harder compounds, and then we have a couple of other sessions and the test during the Mexico weekend, where we will test the softer compounds in FP2 with all teams following different plans for on-track work. I believe we are in a good position to finalize the tires for 2025.”