F1’s official tyre supplier will bring the soft and medium tyres for the first Mexican Grand Prix in 23 years. The same tyres will be used at the Circuit of the Americas and Interlagos, matching last year’s tyre selection.
There will be no change in the tyre selection for the final race of 2015 either: the softest tyre options will be used at Yas Marina.
On Sunday Pirelli announced it had agreed terms with Bernie Ecclestone to continue as F1’s official tyre supplier until 2019.
2015 tyre nominations
| Circuit | 2015 Option | 2015 Prime | 2014 Option | 2014 Prime |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melbourne | Soft | Medium | Soft | Medium |
| Sepang | Medium | Hard | Medium | Hard |
| Shanghai | Soft | Medium | Soft | Medium |
| Bahrain | Soft | Medium | Soft | Medium |
| Catalunya | Medium | Hard | Medium | Hard |
| Monte-Carlo | Super-soft | Soft | Super Soft | Soft |
| Montreal | Super-soft | Soft | Super Soft | Soft |
| Red Bull Ring | Super-soft | Soft | Super Soft | Soft |
| Silverstone | Medium | Hard | Medium | Hard |
| Hungaroring | Soft | Medium | Soft | Medium |
| Spa-Francorchamps | Soft | Medium | Soft | Medium |
| Monza | Soft | Medium | Medium | Hard |
| Singapore | Super-soft | Soft | Super Soft | Soft |
| Suzuka | Medium | Hard | Medium | Hard |
| Sochi | Super-soft | Soft | Soft | Medium |
| Circuit of the Americas | Soft | Medium | Soft | Medium |
| Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez | Soft | Medium | n/a | n/a |
| Interlagos | Soft | Medium | Soft | Medium |
| Yas Marina | Super Soft | Soft | Super Soft | Soft |
2015 F1 season
- How a secret Mercedes engine mode helped pressure Vettel into a race-ending puncture
- Over 100 driver penalties issued in record-breaking 2015
- Part-time racer? The facts of Hamilton’s ‘jet-set lifestyle’
- The Complete F1 Fanatic 2015 season review
- Your favourite – and least favourite – F1 races of 2015
Konstantin (@wold)
13th October 2015, 12:45
What’s the idea behind the hard tire when it’s used for 3 race throughout the calendar and is not the preferred one for 2 of these 3 races? Wouldn’t it be nice to drop it off completely and leave the remaining 3 types for all the teams to choose as they please.
Mike Dee (@mike-dee)
13th October 2015, 15:26
They might create an even softer tyre than the super-soft, drop the hard tyre, and then rename all of them so every tyre type is one step softer than last year. Of course allocation would need to be changed but it should be possible to make it work.
Now whether this is a good thing or not, I don’t know. But I’m sure they will be able to say that it is good for the show.
Dave (@)
13th October 2015, 17:14
But then we’d just end up with tyres like we had last year that wore out after five laps. Let’s face it, Pirelli won’t be allowed to make the tyres both softer and more durable; Bernie and CVC will see to that.
sato113 (@sato113)
13th October 2015, 12:52
‘Yeah in hindsight, I think we could have been a bit less conservative on the tyre selection here’- quote Paul Hembry after the Mexican GP.
HK (@me4me)
13th October 2015, 14:26
The tire choises make sense.
I would however have liked to see something more exiting, like bring the Super-Softs as option tires for the American and Brazilian GP. That way it would be a step between compounds, and thus more of a strategic hurdle for teams to tackle. Like we have seen in the past, the few times we’ve had a step between compounds, races have been great.
RogerA
13th October 2015, 17:02
i’d rather they announce that there pulling out of f1 than announce what crap compounds there forcing drivers to cruise around way off the pace on.
Michal (@michal2009b)
13th October 2015, 17:14
I do believe it isn’t degradation that is the problem. These tyres are simply too hard and consequently have poor grip levels meaning drivers can’t push as they would like. That is an answer to 2013 controversies.
Dave (@)
13th October 2015, 17:15
AH yes, the common ‘Pirelli sucks’ attitude that always totally ignores the fact that Pirelli is giving the organisers of F1 exactly what they asked for.
Patrickl (@patrickl)
13th October 2015, 20:20
@raceprouk, Yet only Pirelli was advocating this. None of the other tyre manufacturers involved with the 2011 tyre selection uttered a word about tyres needing to degrade.
Michelin pretty much had the deal in the bag and they were going for tyres that lasted a normal amount of laps and were aiming for 18″ rims. They however were deemed too expensive and then just before the deadline Ecclestone shoved Pirelli into the limelight with their plan of fast degrading tyres to “improve the show”.
It most definitely was not an FIA or FOTA requirement from the outset. So yeah, I’m going to blame Pirelli for it even though perhaps Ecclestone sold them on the idea to pretend their selection was based on anything else but the money (which it of course was actually based on).
Dave (@)
13th October 2015, 20:24
You know what? I’m done arguing about the tyres. By all means everyone, just keep ignoring the facts. Let’s instead continue this pathetic witch-hunt until the day the sport dies from far more important problems.
Patrickl (@patrickl)
14th October 2015, 14:17
@raceprouk, Yeah lets just ignore the facts. Go on a pathetic which hunt to find some other problem which is more important than the drivers not being able to race. Perhaps giving FI and Suaber a few million more is going to magically solve “everything”. Yay!
Dave (@)
14th October 2015, 14:18
Thankyou for proving you’re doing nothing but blowing hot air.
AldoH
13th October 2015, 20:09
I agree. This is the image of today’s F1. Complete nonsense. Let the drivers use the compound they want to go faster, instead of these ridiculous gimmick rules.
Gosh, how annoying is this….
Dave (@)
13th October 2015, 17:16
I think a step between compounds would be a bad move; it’s already bad enough now, where neighbouring compounds deliver lap time differences of up to two seconds at some tracks.
HK (@me4me)
13th October 2015, 17:22
@raceprouk, At witch track was that the case? Normally there is something like 6 to 8 tenths between compounds in race trim.
Dave (@)
13th October 2015, 17:26
I’m sure there was one race where the difference was well over a second… Spa? But then the length of that track always exaggerates the differences anyway.
Patrickl (@patrickl)
13th October 2015, 20:38
@raceprouk and @me4me, I remembered that 2 seconds offset too.
Checked the Pirelli press releases and they indicated this before the Spa GP:
http://www.pirelli.com/corporate/en/press/2015/08/17/belgian-grand-prix-preview-spa-francorchamps-august-20-23-2015/
HK (@me4me)
14th October 2015, 9:19
@patrickl, Previews aren’t really relevant though. Going by the actual lap times, the difference was far less.
https://www.racefans.net/2015/08/23/no-drop-off-in-vettels-times-before-tyre-blow-out/
And stint info for that race:
https://www.racefans.net/2015/08/24/williams-to-investigate-bizarre-bottas-tyre-mix-up/
Patrickl (@patrickl)
14th October 2015, 15:12
Hamilton goes from 1:14 on medium to 1:12 on softs. Rosberg from 1:15 to 1:13. That’s both 2 seconds per lap faster on the softer compound.
Egorov (@egorov)
13th October 2015, 18:52
Why not let the teams opt for an extra compound of their choice, like Supersofts for COTA, alongwith the current allocation.. That way teams who have managed to make the right choices may reap heavy benefits
Mijail (@mijail)
13th October 2015, 19:51
@egorov They say they are working into the free choice of tyres for 2016 and close to reach and agreement, also adding the super super soft tyre for next year.
Cory Evans (@holmqvist)
13th October 2015, 21:58
I wonder how likely it is the ‘free tyre choice’ will actually happen next season?
sato113 (@sato113)
14th October 2015, 18:47
Brazil could have super softs and softs no? Or did Massa complain last year and they kept the mediums…