"First impression positive," claims Pirelli after the debut of the C6 compounds
Following the debut day of its brand-new C6 compound, Formula One’s sole tyre manufacturer Pirelli offered a positive feedback regarding the on-track behaviour of the softest rubber.
The first day of track action for the Emilia-Romagna saw McLaren shine once again. In both free practice sessions, Oscar Piastri led Lando Norris at the top of the time sheets. The championship leader stopped the clocks in 1’16”545 in FP1 and then went over a second quicker to record a 1’15”293 in FP2.
This weekend sees C6, the softest compound in the 2025 range make is debut. During the two hours of practice the Hard was not used, not even for the scrubbing-in lap that some teams are prone to do.
It indicates that the C4 will play a pivotal role in Sunday’s race. The Soft and Medium tyres were used in exactly equal measure, with each completing a total of 2,307.230 kilometres, over 470 laps.
Commenting on the first experiences regarding the new C6 compound, Pirelli’s chief engineer Simone Berra claimed that it has left drivers with a good impression, enabling them to push for the entire lap.
“There was a great deal of interest in the C6’s debut, from us as much as from the teams and drivers. After all, the Soft for this Grand Prix has never been run on these cars and the last time it was used on track dates back to the end-of-year test session held at Abu Dhabi back in December.
“At first glance, the impression is positive. The C6 proved to be an excellent qualifying tyre, allowing the drivers to push for the whole lap, without experiencing a drop in performance in the final sector.
“Furthermore, with careful management of the cooling phase, it proved capable of delivering at least one more competitive flying lap. In FP1, we even saw it complete a string of laps without any graining appearing.
As for the possible strategy, Berra stated that multiple factors point towards a one-stop strategy, and the fact that no driver used the white-walled hard compound also shows the direction teams pursue this weekend.
“In FP2 all teams did long runs on the Medium which displayed relatively low degradation thanks to a strong level of pace management. Given that the track will still rubber-in more and that temperatures on Sunday should not be excessively high, combined with the layout of this track having the longest pit lane on the calendar, it’s likely the teams will go for a one-stop strategy.
"It’s no coincidence that no one used the Hard compound today, clearly preferring to keep the C4 for Sunday, also to be prepared for a Safety Car period, which is a frequent occurrence at Imola.
“On paper, a two-stop cannot be ruled out, far from it, but we are well aware that the teams and drivers are skilled at tyre management and with time lost in pit lane amounting to a long 27 seconds, that becomes a very important factor.”
