Pirelli suspects soft tyre to be competitive at British Grand Prix

Pirelli has said the soft tyre could be a competitive option for the field after degradation seemed to be in line with their simulations at the British Grand Prix.

Feature image credit: Pirelli

Pirelli has confirmed that degradation levels were in line with their expectations and suspects the soft tyre could be competitive around the Silverstone Circuit this weekend.

Given the nature of the sprint race weekend, the British track and the reduced tyre allocation, many teams and drivers opted to run the white-walled hard compound tyres for most of the sole practice session on Friday before moving onto the softer, quicker compounds.

As such, the teams were able to gather data on the C1 compound, Pirelli’s hardest tyre in their range, which had only been used this season in Suzuka, Japan.

When the teams moved onto the softer compound, Pirelli claimed the performance delta between the medium and soft compound tyres stood at four-tenths, a tenth less than their simulations, with the latter tyre being an option for competitive action.

‘Night and Day’ says Kimi Antonelli after British GP sprint qualifying

Following Friday’s action, Pirelli Motorsport Officer, Dario Marrafuschi, said:

“The first part of the sole hour of free practice allowed teams to become familiar with the C1, a compound that, prior to Silverstone, had only been used at Suzuka. The C2 and C3, on the other hand, were mainly used for performance runs, enabling teams to gather useful data ahead of the rest of the weekend.

“In both of today’s sessions, degradation proved to be in line with our expectations, and the initial performance delta observed between Medium and Soft, at equal fuel loads, was around four tenths, approximately a tenth less than indicated by simulations.

“It will be interesting to see tomorrow which compounds come into play in the Sprint race, because, at this stage, even the Soft appears capable of being among the competitive options, particularly for those starting from the second half of the grid.”

It was confirmed before the start of the weekend that Pirelli would bring their hardest tyres of the range, with the C1 standing in for the hard tyres, C2 the mediums, and C3 the softs.

Saturday’s sprint is set to get underway at 12pm local time, with Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton starting on pole ahead of Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli.

Read more Formula 1 here:

• ‘Night and Day’ says Kimi Antonelli after British GP sprint qualifying
• Lewis Hamilton credits ‘extra hundredth’ to fans after taking Sprint Pole at British GP
• Lando Norris claims damage stopped true pace at British Grand Prix sprint qualifying
• Zak Brown happy with line-up after Max Verstappen McLaren rumours
• Hamilton dominates sprint qualifying to take pole at British Grand Prix
• Hamilton tops sole practice at British Grand Prix
• Mercedes can’t assume their recent performance will continue at British Grand Prix

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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.

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.