Pirelli F1 tyre colours

Pirelli, sole Formula 1 tyre supplier for the next three seasons, is colour-coding the ‘Pirelli’ and ‘PZero’ sidewall logos so that spectators can determine what compounds are being used.

The colours chosen are:

· Wet – Orange

· Intermediate – Light blue

· Supersoft – Red

· Soft – Yellow

· Medium – White

· Hard – Silver



At first sight, it appears that it’s going to be difficult to tell some of the types apart, with silver and white in particular being hard to distinguish.



However, the rules stipulate that only two compounds of dry weather tyre can be used at each round, designated ‘prime’ and ‘option’. Pirelli’s cunning plan is that there will always be at least one step between the different tyre specifications on offer.



So, that means all the teams will have a combination of either Medium (white) and Supersoft (red) rubber available to them, or - as is the case for the three opening events in Australia, Malaysia and China - Hard (silver) and Soft (yellow). That ploy should encourage some interesting strategic race decisions, as well as averting any potential identification problems.



As per last season, each driver must use both nominated types of dry tyre during a dry race in order to be included in the results. If a dry race is suspended following an incident and cannot be restarted, a 30 second penalty will be added to a driver’s time if only one variety was used.



Also available at every round of the championship will be the Wet (orange) and Intermediate (light blue) compounds, in case of rain.



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