Why did Pirelli bring softer compounds to some of the 2026 races compared to last season?

Pirelli Head of Racing Dario Marrafuschi offered detailed insight into the company’s tyre compound philosophy, the reasoning behind going softer at certain circuits, and the extensive testing programme already underway for the 2026 tyres.

Pirelli opted for a softer selection at the Spanish Grand Prix this year, moving from last season’s C1–C2–C3 to C2–C3–C4. Marrafuschi said the decision was driven by how the new cars interact thermally with the tyres.

“Yes, we are pretty satisfied with that. Last year, as you said, it was levels one, two and three. This year was two, three and four, and this is the result of a combination of the whole vehicle package, so aerodynamics, power units, and finally tyres as well.”

He explained that the 2026 cars generate heat differently, allowing Pirelli to shift the compound range.

“Because we have seen that since last year, with the development of the new car, and then confirmed this year with the real cars, there’s a different thermal balance for tyres in racing this year. So, this is allowing us to make a different choice.”

With new dimensions, new construction and new compounds, Pirelli wanted to encourage strategic variety: “As I said, tyres are different from last year: new size, new design and new compounds. And to promote competition, we decided to go softer in Barcelona.”

The result was a race with multiple viable strategies.

“It was the right choice, as a matter of fact, because the two‑stop and the three‑stop strategy were very close for that race, and this kept the audience a lot of attention, but also a lot of engineering behind the scenes to understand and adapt the strategy during the race itself. So, it was quite interesting.”

Marrafuschi confirmed that Pirelli is open to selecting softer compounds at other races, but each decision depends on a wide range of factors.

“Yes, we always make some assumptions at the beginning of the year, but of course then we analyse the data and we make a better choice during the year.”

He highlighted Madrid as an example of a circuit requiring careful evaluation. “Now, for example, we are looking at Madrid," he continued.

"For example, it’s a new track, and the decision is the sum of several factors like the circuit layouts and then, in Madrid, there is banking also, so we need to make some assumptions on the temperatures that we will find in that period of the year and finally, track roughness.”

The goal is always to select compounds that allow teams to pursue different strategies: “So, we are collecting all this data to make the best choice and choose those compounds that permit multiple choices in terms of strategies.”

Pirelli has already completed post‑race testing in Barcelona and will continue with major sessions at Silverstone and Budapest. Marrafuschi clarified that all of this work is focused on next year’s tyres.

“Yeah, well, we never work on tyres for the same year because the specifications are frozen for the whole year, but we work for the next year.”

The current phase is about finalising the tyre construction: “So now we are in the phase of freezing the structure, so the construction of the tyre, and we will begin the tuning on the compound choices for next year.”

Barcelona provided a significant portion of the required data: “So, we almost completed this job in Barcelona, as you said, and now we’ll complete in Silverstone and then we have a couple of other private test events where we will finalise the compound choices.”