Pirelli has announced what tyres it will bring to the opening five races of the 2019 season. The Italian marque has changed the way it will identify tyres next year, calling the compounds on any given weekend the hard, medium and soft.
It has cut its range of seven dry compounds from 2018 to five for 2019. The hardest available compound is labelled 'C1' while the softest is called 'C5'.
The C2 and C3 will make an appearance at each of the opening four races of the year. In all of the events bar Bahrain, 'C2' will act as the hardest tyre. Pirelli will use the 'C1' compound as its hard tyre at the Sahkir International Circuit.
'C3' will be the middle compound at Australia, China and Azerbaijan, while the soft tyre will be 'C4' at all races except Bahrain, which will use the 'C3' as the softest available compound.
Grand Prix |
C1 |
C2 |
C3 | C4 | C5 |
Australia | X | X | X | ||
Bahrain | X | X | X | ||
China | X | X | X | ||
Azerbaijan | X | X | X |
Had we not had the descriptive text in the article body, this table would've said very little to me. Which kinda is a concerning start. Say what you want about the SS, US and H, at least it did say us something. Pirelli just went a bit haywire with the amount of compounds.
Why not brand them:
Wear out straight away
Wear out after a little bit
Wear out after a little bit longer, and finally
Don’t ever think they will last a whole race
Probably, but I like the line of thought. I was going to make ‘C’ for Crap, as per Crap 1, Crap 2... but the better side of me thought it a bit unkind. Just the whole tyre approach seems not right, I’m too old fashioned want to see it slugged out on the circuit not on enforced pit stops. Maybe if everyone had one, same compound per race and borderline reaching the end and then yes, tweak the compounds per the desmans of certain circuits?
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RogerF1
Posts: 501
Why not brand them:
Wear out straight away
Wear out after a little bit
Wear out after a little bit longer, and finally
Don’t ever think they will last a whole race