Pirelli confirm tyre labelling for winter testing

Pirelli has identified how it will code its tyres for pre-season testing, which kicks off later this month in Barcelona. For the 2019 season, just three colours will be used to recognise tyres, and they will be called 'soft, medium and hard', despite five dry compounds being available.

For winter testing, which you can follow live at F1Today.net, Pirelli will use the red, yellow and white colours that will be used for the season. C1, the hardest compound, will be coloured white with no brackets, while C5, the softest tyre, will be red with no brackets. 

Last year, Pirelli ran with seven dry weather compounds ranging from the super hard to the hyper soft. However, it decided to scrap that system for the 2019 season and use five compounds, identifying them the same way each weekend regardless of its range on the C1-C5 scale.

“Normally we will only see three colours at every race, so we’re only using three colours at the tests as well,” stated motorsport director at Pirelli Mario Isola. “But we want to make sure that people can tell the compounds apart.

"As a result, the very hardest and softest tyres won’t be marked with stripes: only the colours will vary. This will be the case for the in-season tests as well.”