Formula One official tyre supplier Pirelli confirmed this week that it does not intend to add an eighth tyre compound for the next F1 championship. Its tyre range has increased from five dry-weather compounds to seven this year following the addition of the hyper-soft and super-hard tyres, although Pirelli refers to the latter as a ‘back-up’ and has not nominated it, or the hard tyre, for any races so far.
But Pirelli Sporting Director Mario Isola revealed they are considering some minor changes to its tyre range based on how its 2018 tyres performed in testing and the first race of the new season, the Australian Grand Prix: “I think this year we have had a good range” – he explained – “[Some] say too many but we decided to make the super-hard as a back-up so we have a range of six compounds now. Obviously we have to test them, to understand them for future races and to understand if for next year we need not more compounds but to move some of them. If, for example, indications are the soft, super-soft and ultra-soft are quite close while between medium and soft you have a good step, between ultra-soft and hyper-soft we have a good step. Maybe we need to have a higher delta between soft, super and ultra. That means that for next year we will design compounds to achieve this target, but not to increase the number.” – Pirelli Sporting Director Mario Isola concluded.
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