Pirelli reveals why it was important to use the C6 compound at Montreal

On the back of a closely-fought Canadian Grand Prix, Formula One's sole tyre manufacturer Pirelli has revealed why it was important to supply teams with the brand-new C6 compound.

George Russell won the Canadian Grand Prix, his fourth Formula 1 victory, a third in the Americas. Russell’s maiden win came in Brazil in 2022 and before today, his most recent was in Las Vegas last year, while in between was a 2024 victory in Austria.

The Englishman also secured his first career hat-trick, (the win, pole position and the fastest race lap). His team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli finished third, the first time an Italian has stood on the podium since the 2009 Japanese Grand Prix, when Jarno Trulli finished second for Toyota.

On the back of a tough Spanish Grand Prix, reigning champion Max Verstappen finished second to record his fifth Montreal podium finish, while for the first time this year, there was no McLaren driver on the podium.

As for the strategy, Pirelli has predicted that the two-stop strategy would emerge as the quickest way to complete the race distance of the Montreal round.

On the starting grid and indeed in pit lane, as Liam Lawson and Pierre Gasly started from there, the teams were almost equally split between Medium (11 drivers) and Hard (nine).

Although Pirelli had expected the C6 rubber to come into play in the race, the two hardest compounds were the outright protagonists and it was only right at the end, when the Safety Car came out that a few drivers, namely Oscar Piastri, Lance Stroll, Ollie Bearman and Isack Hadjar, fitted a set of Softs, but they got virtually no use out of them as the race finished behind the Safety Car.

The longest stints overall were completed by Haas driver Esteban Ocon and Williams racer Carlos Sainz, who did 57 laps from the start on Hards. As for the Medium, Albon (Williams) covered the greatest distance, running 23 laps on the set of C5s he used from the start.

Commenting on the strategy, Pirelli's motorsport director Mario Isola noted: "In terms of strategy, the two-stop proved to be fastest with the Hard compound being the most effective. Making one stop was possible but, honestly, it was really only an option for those starting from the back half of the grid who therefore had less to lose.

"Those starting from the front rows were able to push in all stints thus giving rise to a very hard fought race, with notable differences in stint length and in the sequence of compound use.

"The most effective tyre was the Hard, even if we had little data on it available, given that during Friday free practice only Sauber used it. The Medium probably suffered a bit because of the temperatures being higher than on the first day.

The Canadian Grand Prix was the first venue to feature the C6 compound. The softest tyre of Pirelli's six-compound range made its debut at Imola before it also emerged at Monaco.

Analyzing the first three appearances of the brand-new C6 compound, Isola revealed that the Milan-based tyre manufacturer will now carry out an analysis to learn from the experiences while he also reckoned that without the new compound, the field would have covered the Montreal race with a single-stop strategy.

"This was the third event of the year which featured the C6. Clearly, we will now carefully analyse all the data gathered here to work out if and how to use it again this season after the summer break.

"Here too we saw that the difference in outright performance between the newcomer and the C5 is relatively small – one to one and half tenths – but, as we predicted yesterday, having a wider range of compounds allowed the team a greater range of strategic options.

"Honestly, if we did not have the C6, we would have had to bring the same trio as last year, namely C3, C4 and C5, and it’s probable that would have produced a more linear race with just the one pit stop," concluded Isola.