Pirelli eyes skipping tyre compounds to stir up F1 strategy
Formula 1’s official tyre supplier, Pirelli is exploring the idea of skipping one tyre compound at selected Grands Prix in an effort to create greater strategic diversity during races, sources indicate. The approach, already tested in some 2025 events, involves omitting the middle choice between the designated hard, medium, and soft tyres to widen the performance gaps teams face on race weekends.
Under traditional selections, Pirelli nominates three sequential compounds from its range (C1 through C6) for a given weekend, designated hard, medium, and soft. However, recent races such as Austin and Mexico City have seen Pirelli skip a compound between the hard and medium options, such as running C1, C3, and C4 or C2, C4, and C5.
The aim of this compound skipping strategy is to encourage a wider variety of pit stop strategies, for example, making two-stop races more competitive against one-stop approaches, and reducing predictability in race outcomes. Pirelli’s engineers believe a larger performance delta between tyres could require teams to choose more aggressively between stint lengths and pit stop timing.
Despite these experiments, teams have sometimes still gravitated toward conventional strategies such as one-stop races, and the effectiveness of skipping compounds as a tool for spicing up competition remains mixed among stakeholders.
As Formula 1 continues to refine regulations and tyre allocations for upcoming seasons, Pirelli’s exploration of compound skipping reflects ongoing efforts to balance tyre performance, strategic variation, and exciting race dynamics.
Editor’s View
Pirelli’s willingness to experiment with compound skipping underscores tyres’ central role in shaping Formula 1 race strategy. By creating broader performance gaps between available tyres, the tyre supplier hopes to force teams into more varied pit stop and stint choices, potentially breaking up the dominance of predictable one-stop races.
For the tyre industry, this highlights how compound selection directly influences racing economics and tyre performance narratives. Tyre makers in performance and motorsport segments should note that even subtle changes like omitting a compound can ripple through strategy models, affecting degradation patterns, stint planning, and competition outcomes.
Moreover, it underscores the evolving complexity of tyre development in top-tier motorsports, balancing durability, grip, and strategic impact. While compound skipping might not transform every race, it reinforces the idea that tyres are not merely consumables; they are strategic assets that can be engineered to shape competition itself.
