Pirelli sets F1 2026 compounds, abandons C6

Pirelli has finalised its five tyre compounds for the 2026 F1 season, deciding against brining its sixth extra soft compound that was introduced this year.

The Italian manufacturer has been working on a range of tyres for the 2026 regulations, which prescribe front tyres that are 25mm narrower than the current specification, while the rears will be made 30mm narrower, in an effort to help save overall weight on the 18-inch tyres.

After finalising its tyre constructions by its 1 September deadline, Pirelli completed its last in-season test after the Mexico Grand Prix to further gather data on its tyre compounds, which need to be homologated by 15 December.

It has now announced a plan to bring five compounds to 2026 instead if six, abandoning the softest C6 compound that was used sporadically in 2025, mainly on low-impact street circuits.

The reason is that Pirelli was keen to ensure its five compounds across the range would be different enough in terms of wear and lap time delta to ensure plenty of strategic options. This season compounds like the C2 and C3 were very similar in lap time, meaning that at some races Pirelli decided to skip a compound, for example by bringing the C1, C3 and C4 at Spa and Austin.

By spacing out the range of compounds further, it was felt that the 2026 C6 compound would be too close to the C5.

Racing Bulls' Isack Hadjar testing 2026 Pirelli tyres in Monza

Photo by: Pirelli

"The range of dry tyres will consist of five compounds from the hardest C1 to the softest C5, all with similar positioning to the current one and an approach to thermal degradation aimed at allowing for a variety of choices across the many different characteristics to be found at the circuits on the world championship calendar," Pirelli stated.

"Particular attention has been paid to performance differences between the compounds in terms of lap time, so as to ensure a wide and consistent delta between them, to deliver more strategy options.
 
"The decision not to validate the sixth and softest compound, the C6, which is in the range for the current season, was taken precisely because it was impossible to meet this delta requirement. The most recent tests showed that the time gap between the C5 and C6 prototypes was too small compared to the others, without offering any significant performance advantage."

Teams will get to use the new tyre range at the Abu Dhabi post-season test on 9 December, other than the C1 which is too hard for Yas Marina, with one car per team dedicated to tyre testing while the other cars will be taken up by a rookie driver.

For the tyre test the 10 teams will shed wing levels on their "mule cars" to try and simulate the lower downforce levels from the 2026 machinery, with the drastic regulation changes for next year having complicated Pirelli's tyre development. 

Instead of being able to test representative cars, it has had to rely on simulation data from the teams, as they have been finding rapid gains in virtual and wind tunnel testing since starting aerodynamic development back in January.