Pirelli reveal tyre compounds for opening three rounds

Maria Bright
Pirelli tyres at the Sao Paulo GP. Brazil, November 2021.

Pirelli tyres bunched up on the ground at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix. Brazil, November 2021.

Pirelli has revealed the tyre compounds which will be available to the teams for the opening three rounds of the 2022 season.

Formula 1’s tyre supplier Pirelli has the C1 to C5 range of rubber, with the compounds becoming softer and more grippy as the number increases.

For the opening race in Bahrain though it will be the three hardest compounds that will be at the disposal of the drivers.

Then, for the following round, that being the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Pirelli have gone with the middle of their range, selecting the C2, C3 and C4 tyres.

The exit of the pit lane at Albert Park. Melbourne March 2020.
Red traffic light at the end of the pit lane at Albert Park. Melbourne March 2020.

Melbourne, however, will be more varied as for the first time we see the scrapping of the Q2 tyre rule start to take effect.

In the race, the C2 and C3 tyres will be the mandatory compounds, but the softest C5 tyre will be used in qualifying.

Amongst other rule changes for 2022, drivers will no longer have to start the race on the tyres they used to set their fastest lap in Q2, hence the compound gap for Australia.

The responsibility for Pirelli to determine the compounds used for a race weekend remained for 2022, with the Italian manufacturer previously saying that it was the teams who decided not to return to the old model of making their own selections.

 

Speaking at Pirelli’s 2022 launch event in Monaco, their F1 boss Mario Isola said: “We had to find this solution for the pandemic to be quicker in reaction.

“But then the teams came back to us saying actually the system is quite good, we want to keep it for the future. So it was not our decision at the end to continue with this fixed allocation.

“In 2020 they said we want to continue [with fixed allocations] for 2021. In 2021, with the new product [18-inch tyres] for 2022, nobody was confident in deciding on the compounds and breakdown and so they want to continue.”