Pirelli confirm Monaco and Barcelona Grand Prix tyres
19th May 2026Ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix, Pirelli has confirmed the tyre compounds which will be used for the Formula 1 Monaco and Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.
Feature image credit: Getty Images // Red Bull Content Pool
On Tuesday, the sole tyre provider for F1 confirmed which tyre compounds that’ll be used for the upcoming races inside the Principality of Monaco and Barcelona, Spain.
In the announcement, they confirmed the softest tyre compounds will be used for the upcoming Monaco race, before going a step harder for the Spanish Grand Prix which will be held at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Due to the Monaco Grand Prix’s very tight circuit, where driver precision and concentration are always needed to avoid hitting the hard barriers, Pirelli has confirmed the softest of their tyre range.
Monaco’s smooth asphalt surfaces produce ‘virtually no tyre degradation,’ according to Pirelli. As such, the C5 will be the soft, red-walled, tyre, with the C4 and C3 tyres making up the medium and hard compounds, respectively.
For the following race weekend, the tyre supplier has confirmed the tyres will be a step softer than last year, but a touch harder than the Monaco round. This is due to the demanding nature of the Spanish circuit, with fast, long-radius corners and temperatures that promote thermal degradation.
The decision to change the compounds has been made to encourage more pit stops during the race, with Pirelli going directly in the middle of their range.
With that in mind, for the newly-renamed, Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, the C4 tyres will be the softs; C3 will be the mediums and C2 will stand as the hard compound for the race weekend.
The Monaco Grand Prix will get underway from June 5-7, with the Spanish Grand Prix getting underway a week later, on June 12-14.
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
