Pirelli to debut brand-new C6 compound in Imola

With the 2025 F1 season reaching its European leg, Formula One's sole tyre manufacturer Pirelli is set to bring its brand-new softest compound to the Autodromoe Enzo e Dino Ferrari.

The first quarter of the season is now done and dusted and, apart from a brief interlude in Canada in mid-June, the European season starts now, and goes on until the Italian Grand Prix on 7 September. The seventh round of the season sees Imola host the Emilia-Romagna e del Made in Italy Grand Prix which takes place at the Imola circuit, named in memory of Enzo Ferrari and his son Dino.

As far as the compounds are concerned, Pirelli's softest compound that will be referred to as the C6 rubber will make its debut at Imola. It means that the Milan-based tyre manufacturer has chosen the softest trio of compounds in its 2025 range for this weekend, with the C4 as Hard, the C5 as Medium and the C6 as Soft.

Although several drivers trialed the softest compound during last year's tyre test outings, it will be the first time that drivers will run the C6 on this season’s cars as none of them used it in the Bahrain test.

As for the new compound, Pirelli noted that "the C6 could provide even more grip over a flying lap, especially as the Imola surface is less abrasive than average. It’s hard to imagine it being used for a race stint, but data gathered in Imola and then from Monaco and Montreal, will allow the Pirelli engineers to evaluate it for other Grands Prix in the second part of the season."

In terms of strategy, last year's Imola race saw drivers prefer a single-stop strategy. 15 drivers started the race on the Medium (C4), three on the Hard (C3) and two on the Soft (C5).

The harder compounds worked best, offering very consistent performance, with limited degradation, despite track temperatures above 50 °C. Those who started on the Soft had to make two stops.

It will be interesting to see if going one step softer in terms of compounds compared to last year will have an effect. There is only one DRS zone with limited opportunities for overtaking elsewhere, added to which the pit lane is the longest on the calendar in terms of time. All these factors combine to make a one-stop the obligatory tradition at this circuit.