Previously I explained the new tyre rules for 2016 and a few people have asked for a
new video for 2018 what with the new compounds and such, so let’s do a quick run through
of that now.
Not much has changed so this should be a happy refresher.
OK, let’s go.
What’s changed?
Not too much.
Since 2016, when Pirelli introduced the purple Ultrasoft tyre and started bringing three
compounds to a race instead of two, we’ve had 2017.
The rules were the same but the tyres were different.
Wider than for a long time, Pirelli played it safe and built their tyres with stable
compounds that didn’t degrade readily and led to a lot, a LOT of races with only of
set of pitstops.
A lot of people thought that took some of the fun out of races.
For 2018, Pirelli are widening their range of compounds further
From 2011 – 2014 we had four dry compounds: the Hard, Medium, Soft and Supersoft.
Let’s stop and give a quick definition here: A ‘compound’ describes the type of rubber
the tyre is made of.
The different compounds are made in slightly different ways.
The softer the compound, the grippier and therefore FASTER it will be, but it will degrade
much faster and have a shorter lifespan.
In 2015, Pirelli brought in the Ultrasoft tyre.
Now, for 2018, Pirelli have brought in a Hypersoft tyre and a Superhard tyre, bringing the total
number of compounds up to seven.
Some people have said that this is just Pirelli trying to bring the focus back after people
stopped talking about tyres in 2017 but Pirelli’s actual reason makes more sense.
Having more compounds to choose from means that Pirelli can better select the right tyres
for different tracks.
Their aim is to try and make as many races as possible have a two-stop strategy be the
more frequent approach as they believe this will make for exciting, interesting races
without having the tyres wear out so quickly that they become the dominant part of the
race.
Look out for a future video in which I explain how Pirelli choose which compounds to bring
to which tracks.
One thing worth noting – a 2015 supersoft tyre is not the same as the 2016 supersoft
tyre, which is not the same as the 2017 supersoft tyre, etc.
Between years, Pirelli make adjustments to the compounds or even completely relabel compounds
depending on what they’ve learned and on feedback they’re given about what direction
to go in.
For example, for 2018, Pirelli are making all of their tyres a ‘step’ softer.
This means that, roughly speaking, the 2018 Soft will be as soft as the 2017 Supersoft.
And so on, for all the other compounds.
This means the new Hypersoft will be two steps softer than the softest compound available
last year.
The labels “Supersoft”, “Medium”, “Hard” etc are just markers for the different
grades of compound, even though they may vary from year to year.
The whole range of tyres may be softer, harder, or more spaced out
There are of course two ‘wet-weather’ compounds, too.
The intermediate, for changeable and reasonable wet weather and the ‘full wet’ or ‘extreme’
tyre for heavy rain.
See my video on wet-weather tyres for more info on these
Let’s remind ourselves on the rules regarding how the tyres are chosen, distributed and
used on any given race weekend.
Before the event – way before the event – Pirelli choose which three compounds they’ll
bring to a race.
For example, the soft, medium and hard compounds might be used at the British GP.
Each driver will have thirteen sets of tyres to use during the weekend.
A ‘set’ being the group of four tyres a car needs.
In this thirteen sets of tyres, Pirelli will choose two sets of tyres that must be available
for use in the race.
Each driver MUST use at least one of these sets using the race.
They might be the same compound, they might be different.
Pirelli will also choose one set of tyres that will be left available for Q3, if a driver
makes it into the third part of qualifying.
The remaining ten sets can be chosen by the driver and team for each car.
As you are probably aware, there are seven session in an F1 weekend.
Three Free Practice Sessions, Three Qualifying sessions and a Race.
Out of the ten, self-chosen tyres, the drivers can use whichever they want, whenever they
want but they have to start giving back sets of tyres at certain points during the weekend.
The reason for this is to make sure teams take to the track throughout the weekend and
don’t sit in the garage saving tyres.
Tyres have to be handed back as follows: One set 40 mins into FP1
One set at the end of FP1 Two sets at the end of FP2
Two sets at the end of FP3 Drivers can hand back whichever tyres they
want (but obviously they will likely hand back the most used tyres!)
This leaves 4 sets available for qualifying, plus the bonus Q3 set if you make it to Q3.
And if you do use that set, you have to hand that back too after Q3.
If you make it into Q3, you MUST start the race on the tyre in which you set your fastest
time in Q2.
Everyone else can use whichever tyre they want to start the race on, INCLUDING the special
Q3 tyre, which now becomes unlocked.
So now in the race everyone has to use at least one of the Pirelli nominated sets at
some point in the race.
The only time these rules can be bent is in the event of rain.
If the race is declared wet at any point, then drivers don’t have to use any of the
mandatory sets.
If the race starts on a wet track then the top ten driver DON’T have to use their Q2
tyres (as they’ll be on wet tyres).
Similarly, if it’s raining during Q2 then drivers can use whatever tyres they want to
start the race on One final thing to mention – tyres ALWAYS
come as a set of four.
You cannot mix up the sets, even if they are the same compound.
If you do accidentally fit a mixed set you MUST come back to the pits within three laps
to put a proper set of tyres on.
These rules sound really complicated when read out one after the other, but after a
couple of years of them I think they’ve been pretty easy to follow as you never really
NEED to know everything that’s going on all the time.
The most important part, if you’re following people’s tyre choices, is knowing what tyres
people have saved up for the race.
What’s going to be interesting is whether all seven of the dry compounds are really
necessary.
The Hard compound was hardly used in 2017, with the middle three compounds overwhelmingly
playing the most part.
I’ll be keeping an eye on which compounds get used in 2018
I also think there might be too many colours to keep track of now, for the average viewer.
We’ve got a lot of compounds but still only pick three per race, so whichever three are
picked, why not just colour them as the soft, medium and hard compound for that race?
It’s not that important to know at every given moment whether the softest tyre is the
soft, the supersoft or the hypersoft – just that it’s the softest!
Just a thought.
Not sure why Pirelli wouldn’t want to do that