George Russell is concerned Formula 1 tyre performance will deteriorate when the series switches to narrower rubber next year.
However Charles Leclerc had a positive first impression of the new prototypes from F1’s official tyre supplier Pirelli.F1 made its tyres significantly wider in 2017 in order to improve the car’s cornering performance. They grew from 245mm wide at the front and 325mm at the rear to 305mm and 405mm respectively. Those will be trimmed to 280mm and 375mm respectively next year.
Russell said a loss of performance is an inevitable consequence of the move to narrower tyres. “A number of drivers have driven the 2026 tyres, which are going to be narrower tyres to try and help reduce the drag,” he said. “That was a bit of a challenge compared to the wide tyres we have today.
“It was quite a step worse with the tyres, naturally, because they’re just much more narrow. Hopefully they will be improved over the coming months.”
Pirelli is testing its prototype rubber using ‘mule’ cars which have been adapted to simulate the lower downforce levels next year’s cars are expected to generate. Leclerc, who has also tested the new rubber, was encouraged by his run on the narrower tyres.
“Obviously whenever you’re testing smaller tyres, you expect a big difference,” he said. “But on my side, they were good. It didn’t feel like a big difference so I was positively surprised.”
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Carlos Sainz Jnr and Ryo Hirakawa conducted further tests with the narrower tyres in Bahrain today, driving mule cars supplied by Williams and Alpine respectively. Pirelli’s director of motorsport, Mario Isola, said they had completed almost 2,700 kilometres of testing so far.
“We continued with a comparison of different types of construction and compound, the latter at the hardest end of the range, to suit the characteristics of this track,” he said. “Now, our colleagues in R&D will analyse the information carefully and provide useful indications so that we can continue to improve the product for the next generation of cars.”
Pictures: 2026 F1 tyre test in Bahrain
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Coventry Climax
3rd March 2025, 16:24
Haha, Pirelli have no R&D department; what they have is called a T&E department. Trial and Error. And even that has taken them some, what, 12 years now?
El Pollo Loco
3rd March 2025, 18:38
And when no other tire manufacturer bothered to field a bid against them you know they’re going to be even lazier than they were. Pirelli’s demand for large, road car sized wheels/tires should have been F1’s cue to get a new tire manufacturer even if it cost F1 and the teams more money. I mean, FFS, it’s the tires. And, yes, I know a good sized portion of the blame lies with F1’s request for tires that degrade quickly. But the thermal deg is the worst.
T
3rd March 2025, 21:58
I thought they had competition from bridgestone or was that just a widely reported rumor?
El Pollo Loco
4th March 2025, 2:10
Bridgestone said they had no interest and didn’t even submit a bid. IIRC, they were only interested if they had competition. That or they weren’t interested in making faulty tires that made them look like clowns. It was one or the other.
BasCB (@bascb)
4th March 2025, 18:05
Birdgestone actually stopped for completely different reasons and certainly not because they wanted competition (you might have them mixed up with Michelin, who DID refuse to be a single supplier, AND wanted to make tyres lasting up to several races)
El Pollo Loco
6th March 2025, 5:02
Thanks for the clarification. BTW, are we referring to the 2023 bid when Bridgestone was interested in a “sustainable tire” initiative that would used recycled materials in the race tires?
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
4th March 2025, 15:10
The control tire has been a thing since 2007 in F1, and 2009 in MotoGP.
Why you ask ? because it’s better for the investors of the sport.
And it does not appreciate competition nor innovation.
Ask Suzuki why they were able to win a MotoGP championship right after the switch to Michelin, before Ducati nailed the formula. Ask Rossi why Yamaha were so dominant right after the advent of the Bridgestone switch, and why they moved to Honda before goldenboy 93.
#Tires are very important in racing, and if one entity controls them, they control who wins and loses, to a very large extent.
MacLeod (@macleod)
5th March 2025, 13:57
Handcock and Bridgestone gave a bid but where overlooked ….ignored
LosD (@losd)
4th March 2025, 7:57
Narrower tyres are narrower tires, no matter who makes them. This was not Pirelli’s decision, AFAIK
Coventry Climax
4th March 2025, 13:11
One step worse or positively surprised however boils down to talk about the quality of them, and not just their size.
lynn-m
3rd March 2025, 16:26
I think the narrower tires may end up been a mistake in terms of the on-track racing as surely wider tires that produce more mechanical grip are a net benefit in terms of racing as more mechanical grip and a bit less aero grip is surely what the direction the should be going.
i remember back to 1993 when the rear tires were made smaller to try and reduce cornering speeds to counteract the increased grip from the active ride systems and all the drivers were saying that it made the cars harder in terms of racing as it made them that bit more reliant on the aerodynamics.
Ibex
3rd March 2025, 17:29
A major reason for reducing the rear tyre width in the early ’90s was to try and counter the rapid rise in engine power.
It would have been far better to ban pneumatic valves instead (the innovation which enabled the engines to break free of the mechanical limitations of spring valves and rev higher and higher), but I expect Max Mosley was limited in what the teams & engine suppliers would agree to. It was also a period when Formula 1 was losing engine suppliers and teams due to the global recession, which hit Japan especially hard.
AlanD
3rd March 2025, 18:41
Ibex, I’ve been hunting around Google trying to find out how spring valves could possibly limit performance. Eventually I realised I was being stupid. As this thread was about tyres, I assumed you were talking about the valves in tyres, but eventually it dawned on me that you were talking about valves in engines. Doh!
It would have been strange to prohibit the evolution of engines in that way. F1 is supposed to push the technology envelope, and it never sits comfortably with me when F1 wants to limit cutting edge innovation in the quest for equalisation of cars.
Greg
3rd March 2025, 18:57
This is how
https://help.summitracing.com/knowledgebase/article/SR-04765/en-us
BasCB (@bascb)
3rd March 2025, 17:40
as surely wider tires that produce more mechanical grip are a net benefit in terms of racing as more mechanical grip and a bit less aero grip is surely what the direction the should be goingThat is not really true, or at least not as clear @lynn-m.
Higher grip means being able to get through corners better. With less contact patch – i.e. narrower tyres, they will have less grip, which might mean the cars need to brake more/earlier. And THAT tends to be more advantageous for racing (i.e. cars following each other and trying to overtake) than having solid grip that can shoot you through a corner without having to do more than a short lift.
grat
3rd March 2025, 22:41
Narrower tires with less sidewall flex due to the 18″ rims, no hydraulics, fixed suspension layout and relying on quirky ground-effects for grip.
What could possibly go wrong?
anon
4th March 2025, 22:55
grat, we have seen other open wheeler series that also make use of ground effects, have relatively simple suspension systems, relatively low profile tyres and comparatively narrower tyres that seem to work just fine.
El Pollo Loco
4th March 2025, 2:11
Narrower tires are ALWAYS better for racing.
Coventry Climax
3rd March 2025, 16:33
Can they be pushed for more than half a lap without getting cooked?
What operational window do they have, bigger than what we currently have? What tyre pressures are they supposed to be run? Etc etc.
Those are a couple of the things that indicate what quality they are and how they’ll likely impact the racing, not the shallow ‘they are a step worse’ or ‘I was positively surprised’.
El Pollo Loco
4th March 2025, 2:12
+1
Ibex
3rd March 2025, 17:23
The wider tyres, and from 2022 larger diameter also, undoubtedly made the dirty air problems significantly worse.
Formula 1 needs to face up to the the fact that big, high downforce cars with huge tyres do not make for good racing. Safety was not the only reason for banning ground effect venturi tunnels at the end of 1982, people at the time also recognised the high downforce was also making racing boring.
The pursuit of ever faster cars is also not only bad for the quality of racing, but unsustainable on grounds of safety. Far better to limit performance sooner rather than repeat the mistakes of the past and make a knee jerk reaction after a disaster happens.
Edvaldo
3rd March 2025, 18:11
Give them time. It’s only been 15 seasons.
El Pollo Loco
4th March 2025, 2:14
Exactly. They and Lance are about to come good. TBF, 2012 and 2013 were some of the most exciting seasons in F1 history and it had a lot to do with the tires.
Jere (@jerejj)
3rd March 2025, 18:14
No one really complained with the previous tyre width dimension last used in 2016.
Btw, I think Albon is in the Williams image, given the helmet design.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
3rd March 2025, 19:13
It really grind my gears how F1 goes one way then the other when they come up with rules. Someone along the way decided cars needed to be so much faster with bigger wings and bigger tyres. Then they cut the wings, and now we’re getting narrower tyres again. Everyone could see problems arising from that change in 2017, but hey! we need cars that go 5 seconds faster at Barcelona for no reason whatsoever!
Make up your iffing mind…
anon
4th March 2025, 23:02
@fer-no65 the thing is, the fan base have often been just as indecisive and frequently seen people swing from complaining that the cars were too slow, too fast, too heavily dominated by aerodynamics, too heavily dominated by engine performance, not making enough use of ground effects to help cars race closer together, making too much use of ground effects that result in overly peaky cars – there are always backlashes against the sport in one direction or another, and the fans themselves have played their part in creating the pressure that has resulted in changes being made to appease them.
JoshJ81
3rd March 2025, 20:34
This is terrible, the drivers are always going to complain…nothing is the right answer. Just bring back Tire Wars already, nothing to lose and probably nothing to gain either
S
3rd March 2025, 23:56
‘Tyre wars’ always sound great in theory but never worked in F1.
That ‘competition’ has ended (almost everywhere, including F1) largely because it’s a money pit with hardly any ROI, and also because it hindered the on-track product far more often than benefitted it.
You’re absolutely right – the drivers and teams will always complain. It’s made worse by the fact that what they want from F1 as a participant often goes against what makes F1 attractive to viewers, sponsors and technical partners.
roadrunner (@roadrunner)
4th March 2025, 14:18
I disagree. “Tyrewars” kind of always worked. It worked well with Michelin and Bridgestone, it worked well with Bridgestone and Goodyear in 97 and 98 and it worked well in the 80s and early 90s too.
The narrative that Bridgestone crushed Michelin in 2002 and 2004 and therefore tyrewars don’t work is just wrong. Maybe Bridgestone had an advantage, but the Ferrari was so strong (or the opposition so weak) they would have won regardless the tyres. In fact the different characteristics of the Michelin was probably the reason the other teams got a few poles here and there and were able to pick up the odd victory.
Tyres are one of the most essential parts of racing and unfortunately in the years and years of Pirelli we witnessed how poor the quality their product is. I don’t believe for a second that Pirelli lacks competency. They don’t build better tyres because they don’t have to. Right know they win every race and are only afraid of punctures instead of competition.
Put a second manufacturer in the mix and they will almost immediately be able to make tyres that are several seconds per lap faster without overheating or falling apart regardless the weight, downforce or power of the cars.
So while the money argument is of course true, investing a bit more on the tyre front surely can only be a good thing.
S
5th March 2025, 0:55
Kind of, at best – in the sense that different tyres had unique strengths and weaknesses at different times/places. The ‘this is a Michelin circuit’ or ‘these are Bridgestone conditions’ angle helped mix up the results occasionally, but never really improved the racing on a per-event basis.
It’s popular to think that any given tyre manufacturer can make a (subjectively) ‘better’ product in competition with another manufacturer, but that’s definitely not guaranteed – as F1 teams themselves prove with their own cars. I agree Pirelli could certainly do (what I would consider) ‘better’ without F1’s imposed target letter – but I’m not so sure that anyone else would be substantially different under the same conditions.
The main limiting factor in F1 is the loads the tyres are dealing with – no race tyre manufacturer in any series has ever had to deal with these forces and performance expectations before. Every aspect of the tyre design and construction is a compromise. Compounding the issue is that the tyre testing and development data is handed to all the teams so they can maximise use of the tyres at all times, while leaving very little performance/endurance in reserve for dirty air or maximum-pace conditions. We can’t blame the tyre manufacturer for the teams’ choices.
Japan’s top level racing series still feature ‘tyre wars’ – and after so many years making tyres for the same spec cars, multiple manufacturers have ended up with almost identical products. They’ve achieved – through at least 3-4x the time and financial investment – essentially the same thing as a series utilising a single tyre supplier.
Other than marketing those particular brands, the result is that there has been no net benefit to anyone.
F1 would be no different in today’s world.
Michael A.
4th March 2025, 0:12
Currently, in Formula One, the tyre situation is a total farce. I do not blame Pirelli, they are simply obeying directives by overpaid individuals who have no clue about racing tyre requirements.
The whole of Formula One is completely STUFFED!
El Pollo Loco
4th March 2025, 2:18
Nonsense, it’s the pinnacle of automotive technology and innovation! /s
It’s not and never will be, which is why they should at least be able to get the important part right: technical regs that lead to good racing. But they’re always changing who’s in charge and making decisions by committee. And worst of all trying to keep up the automaker relevance farce. So, everything is always a watered down compromise.
PeteB (@peteb)
4th March 2025, 12:57
It all comes back to the problem that F1 doesn’t know what it wants. The “pinnacle of automotive technology”, “road relevance” and “good racing” are three opposing forces. If you move towards one, you move further away from the other two.
Coventry Climax
4th March 2025, 13:28
As far as the road relevance is concerned, I think we can agree that adding tow hooks, airco, roofracks, entertainment systems and heated seats are detrimental to having decent racing cars.
Caravan races make for hilarious TV, but they’re another league, obviously.
Where the combination of technology and good racing are concerned, that’s a whole other matter. Technology used to also translate into things such as lighter an stronger materials to use (in racing). That’s just one of the examples, but it’s quite clear those go hand in hand quite nicely. Another is, that without technology, we’d still run pure latex, diagonal structure tyres (if you’re old enough to remember those).
It’s where that translates into amounts of money spent, where things may go astray – for some.
So my take would not be ‘technology’ and ‘motorsports’, but ‘commerce’ and ‘motorsports’ to ultimately have different interests. With a big emphasis on the ‘sports’ part of the word.
Coventry Climax
4th March 2025, 13:32
PS: I think they do know what direction they want to go: entertainment.
So do expect the towhooks (albeit proverbial) before too long.
BLS (@brightlampshade)
5th March 2025, 15:57
Maybe they should just let Pirelli make the tyres they want to make for a season? F1 want Liberty to make a specific kind of tyre which either they can’t do, or more likely no one can do.
No matter how much you want this perfect tyre to exist, if it’s not technically possible then no amount of trial and error is going to make it happen.
F1 is not what was 20+ years ago. The car’s are significantly heavier, with more sustainable torque, and huge amounts of downforce. These tyres have to take so much these days, just let Pirelli make what they want to make for a change.
El Pollo Loco
6th March 2025, 5:09
It’d be worthwhile AND interesting to at least let them try a totally different type of tire in at least one or two weekends. We have so many rounds now that it’s a luxury they can afford. Will a couple teams whine if it hurts their competitiveness during those rounds? Undoubtedly, but what else is new?