Barcelona tyre compounds will allow drivers 'to push hard'

Pirelli says that the conservative selection in tyre compounds for this year's Spanish Grand Prix will allow the drivers to push hard from the start to the end of the race.

The Italian marque will bring the C1, C2 and C3 compounds to the weekend, the hardest in its range.

The aforementioned compounds were seen at the Bahrain Gand Prix earlier this year, and are not set to be selected again until Silverstone - Pirelli still has to confirm the compounds for the British Grand Prix.

Ahead of this weekend's event in Barcelona, Pirelli says the hard tyres have been selected "to enable drivers to push hard from the start to the finish of each stint in what are likely to be warm conditions, without resorting to pace management."

Pirelli added that at pre-season testing earlier this year at Barcelona, teams "tended to concentrate on the softer compounds", which means "they may be missing a bit of data on the hard and the medium" tyres.

Pirelli's head of racing Mario Isola says that despite the compounds it will bring, he expects the track record to fall once more due to the evolution of the track surface, which was renewed last year.

“There are very few mysteries about Barcelona for the teams, especially this year as the pre-season tests were held in quite good weather conditions that should be more representative of the season," Isola said.

"However, a number of teams are planning on bringing some car upgrades, so it will be interesting to see the effect of those on tyre behaviour, together with the continued evolution of the new track surface, which we already noted earlier this year.

"Even in pre-season testing, the cars were incredibly quick out of the box here, so this could be yet another race like last year in Spain where more lap records fall.”

Replies (0)

Login to reply

AZ Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Local time 

AZAzerbaijan Grand Prix

Local time 

Test calendar

See full test schedule

World Championship standings 2026

Show full world champion standings

Related news

Give your opinion!

Will Bottas challenge Hamilton for the world championship in 2020?

Formula 1 Calendar - 2026

Date
Grand Prix
Circuit
-
Spain
-
Bahrain
-
Bahrain
6 - Mar 8
Australia
13 - Mar 15
China
27 - Mar 29
Japan
10 - Apr 12
Bahrain
17 - Apr 19
Saudi Arabia
1 - May 3
United States of America
22 - May 24
Canada
5 - Jun 7
Monaco
12 - Jun 14
Spain
See full schedule

Formula 1 Calendar - 2026

Date
Grand Prix & Circuit
6 - Mar 8
Australia Albert Park
13 - Mar 15
27 - Mar 29
10 - Apr 12
17 - Apr 19
Saudi Arabia Jeddah Street Circuit
1 - May 3
United States of America Miami International Autodrome
22 - May 24
5 - Jun 7
Monaco Monte Carlo
12 - Jun 14
See full schedule
show sidebar