Pirelli has confirmed details of the tyre compounds it will supply for all 23 rounds on the 2021 F1 calendar.
It includes a nomination for the third round of the championship in Portugal. The venue for this race has not been officially confirmed by Formula 1, but the FIA indicated earlier this month the race will return to the calendar providing the venue agrees commercial terms with championship. The Autodromo do Algarve, which F1 raced at in October last year, is expected to host the race.Pirelli has nominated the hardest tyres in its range – C1, C2 and C3 – for that race, as well as the new round of the championship at Zandvoort in the Netherlands. The hardest rubber will also be used at Silverstone, where several drivers experienced tyre failures last year, plus the Circuit de Catalunya and Suzuka.
Six races will feature the softest tyres available, C3, C4 and C5. These are to be used in Monaco, Baku, Montreal, Sochi, Singapore and Yas Marina.
The C2, C3 and C4 tyres will be brought to the remaining 12 races. This includes the new Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on a street circuit in Jeddah, details of which are yet to be revealed.
Pirelli has departed from its usual practice of announcing the tyre selections in stages during the season by confirming the entire range before the championship has begun.
“Announcing all the selections for the year right now will help the teams and the drivers with their planning, also allowing for maximum flexibility just in case the calendar has to change due to Covid-19 restrictions, as we saw last year,” said Pirelli’s head of F1 and car racing Mario Isola.
In the majority of cases Pirelli has chosen the same tyre selection as in previous years for each track. However the selections for Baku and Interlagos are one stage softer than before.
The 2021 F1 season is due to be the final year in which 13-inch rubber is used in Formula 1.
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2021 F1 tyre selections
| Race | Venue | Tyres | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bahrain Grand Prix | Bahrain International Circuit | C2 | C3 | C4 |
| Made in Italy and Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix | Imola | C2 | C3 | C4 |
| Portuguese Grand Prix | Autodromo do Algarve* | C1 | C2 | C3 |
| Spanish Grand Prix | Circuit de Catalunya | C1 | C2 | C3 |
| Monaco Grand Prix | Monaco | C3 | C4 | C5 |
| Azerbaijan Grand Prix | Baku City Circuit | C3 | C4 | C5 |
| Canadian Grand Prix | Circuit Gilles Villeneuve | C3 | C4 | C5 |
| French Grand Prix | Paul Ricard | C2 | C3 | C4 |
| Austrian Grand Prix | Red Bull Ring | C2 | C3 | C4 |
| British Grand Prix | Silverstone | C1 | C2 | C3 |
| Hungarian Grand Prix | Hungaroring | C2 | C3 | C4 |
| Belgian Grand Prix | Spa-Francorchamps | C2 | C3 | C4 |
| Dutch Grand Prix | Zandvoort | C1 | C2 | C3 |
| Italian Grand Prix | Monza | C2 | C3 | C4 |
| Russian Grand Prix | Sochi Autodrom | C3 | C4 | C5 |
| Singapore Grand Prix | Singapore | C3 | C4 | C5 |
| Japanese Grand Prix | Suzuka | C1 | C2 | C3 |
| United States Grand Prix | Circuit of the Americas | C2 | C3 | C4 |
| Mexico City Grand Prix | Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez | C2 | C3 | C4 |
| Sao Paulo Grand Prix | Interlagos | C2 | C3 | C4 |
| Australian Grand Prix | Albert Park | C2 | C3 | C4 |
| Saudi Arabian Grand Prix | Jeddah Street Circuit | C2 | C3 | C4 |
| Abu Dhabi Grand Prix | Yas Marina | C3 | C4 | C5 |
*To be confirmed.
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Jere (@jerejj)
19th February 2021, 10:55
Fair enough choice for each track.
MacLeod (@macleod)
19th February 2021, 13:36
HArdest for Zandvoort why is that? I would select the softest for the shortest track!
StefMeister (@stefmeister)
19th February 2021, 13:43
@macleod I’d guess it’s probably due to the new banking putting more load through the tyres therefore making softer compounds unsuitable.
MacLeod (@macleod)
19th February 2021, 13:45
But the new tyres would counter that problem they were designed too handle Zandvoort banking.
Srdjan Mandic (@srga91)
19th February 2021, 16:07
@macleod
It’s not about the length, but about how much load gets put through the tyres. Zandvoort is a fast and flowing circuit, comparable to Suzuka. It’s also new circuit and it’s better not to risk anything on Pirelli’s side.
Would they bring the C5-tyre to Zandvoort, it probably wouldn’t even last a full qualy lap and drivers would have to manage the tyres even then. It would also be almost unusable in the race, as it would fall apart after a couple of laps. Nobody wants to see that. Plus, Q2 would most likely end up as a joke, as some of the midfield drivers wouldn’t even set a time to save as many fresh sets of Mediums and Hards for the race as they can.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
19th February 2021, 22:35
Portugal should be c2 too low speed, zandvoort might be new but again not high speed enough for c1
Slobo (@slobo)
19th February 2021, 13:41
Will the teams choose their tyre allocation this year?
Roger Ayles (@roger-ayles)
19th February 2021, 13:45
@slobo No because they have to make things as spec as possible.
God forbid a team get an advantage or be disadvantaged by having better/worse compounds, Imagine how modern fans who want as much equality of performance as possible would react that that ‘unfairness’.
True F1 is long dead, Can’t have any competition or advantages/disadvantages anymore. Modern fans won’t allow that as it’s clear they see F1 as a gimmicky show rather than a true sporting competition like it used to be.
Srdjan Mandic (@srga91)
19th February 2021, 16:17
@roger-ayles
Oh come on, stop it already! That has nothing to do with it and you know it, so stop spreading those lies!
The reason behind it is that it saves Pirelli a lot of money, because it’s easier for them to coordinate the shipment of the tyres, as compared to knowing the allocation just a few weeks in advance. They can start the shipment process a lot earlier than they could’ve done in the past.
And btw, if F1 is long dead as you say, what are you doing here in the first place?!
Invisiblekid (@invisiblekid)
19th February 2021, 18:22
“And btw, if F1 is long dead as you say, what are you doing here in the first place?!”
Martyrdom
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
19th February 2021, 22:33
Once again, what disappoints me the most is that the will never even consider leaving a gap in compounds.
For example Interlagos could have been C1, C2, C4. More variation would be nicer.