Pirelli plans to get more aggressive with F1 tire options

Pirelli is aiming to deliver the most aggressive tire choices possible during the 2026 season, having made changes to its planned allocations prior to the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.

At the most recent race in Spain, a mixture of two-stop and three-stop strategies played out thanks to the levels of degradation seen amid high temperatures. With strategic variation targeted on all tracks, Pirelli’s head of motorsport business Dario Marrafuschi says the tire supplier’s initial plan from the start of the season has already been revised to bring softer compounds as often as possible.

“Emotionally, yes [Barcelona provides more confidence in being aggressive], from an engineering point of view, no, because we made an engineering choice,” Marrafuschi said. “All the tracks, we have reconsidered and revised our initial position.

“We are still considering Madrid. It's a new track. We want to see the latest data on the asphalt, because what is affecting the choice is, of course, the vehicle, the track layout, the temperatures, and the asphalt characteristics.

“So, we are always open-minded, and until we have the opportunity, from a production point of view, to modify the track choice, we will freeze on the last day. So, now, I would say the whole season is very well recalibrated. Still, under internal discussion, we want to take the most aggressive choice.”

However, Marrafuschi warns not to expect the same split of strategic choices at every venue, given the specific characteristics of the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit.

“[Barcelona] is recognized as a very representative track. It puts effort on the front axle, because of the high-speed corners,” he said. “There is a lot of sliding, you have to fight with the understeer in Turn 3, Turn 9 and the last two corners of the track.

“At the same time, you have to fight with the over-heating of the rear axle. You have to fight with the traction - with the lateral traction too - in the slow parts of the circuit. So, it is really demanding for both axles in different perspectives. Not all the tracks have these characteristics … Now, we are all very excited about the results of Barcelona, but not all the tracks are doing the same.

“In the end, the front tires were the same as the previous events, [where] there was not such a result. It's true that we always analyze the data of every race and we adapt our compound choices and prescriptions for every event, based on the data we get. So, we try to do our best to promote multiple strategies and the best level of performance.”