Pirelli confirms six different colours for tyres
2011 F1 season
Pirelli have confirmed the colours that will be used to distinguish between their tyres.
Unlike last year, each tyre will have its own specific colour.
The different colours will be applied to the logos on the sidewalls of the tyres:
| Tyre | Colour |
| Hard | Silver |
| Medium | White |
| Soft | Yellow |
| Super-soft | Red |
| Wet | Orange |
| Intermediate | Blue |
Click the image above to see each different tyre.
According to Pirelli, “The colours reflect the unique personality of each tyre, enabling viewers to tell instantly not only which is the prime and the option tyre, but also exactly which type of tyre is fitted to each car.”
Motorsport director Paul Hembery said: “We’ re very excited by the prospect of returning to Formula One for the first time in 20 years, and we’re aiming to be a proactive and colourful partner in Formula One.
“So what better way to symbolise this than a brightly coloured selection of Pirelli logos to run on the sidewalls? These will enable both live and television audiences to tell at a glance who is on what compounds, which will be vital knowledge as tyres are set to form a key part of race strategy this year.”
Pirelli tyres
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- Pirelli tyre range
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- Pirelli hard
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- Pirelli medium
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- Pirelli soft
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- Pirelli soft
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- Pirelli super-soft
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- Pirelli wet
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- Pirelli wet
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- Pirelli intermediate
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- Pirelli intermediate
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Image © Pirelli
JackHammer92 said on 18th March 2011, 16:31
The new system is good, but I do think it would be better if they had also painted a ring around each tyre with the colour to make the tyre choice clearer from more angles (T-cam for example)
ajokay (@ajokay) said on 18th March 2011, 16:52
Why? The same logos will be visible on the inside walls of the tyres too.
gabal said on 18th March 2011, 16:33
I like it, it is going to be easier to distinguish between the compounds that way and the colours are different enough to be visibly different at full speed.
Mads said on 18th March 2011, 16:46
I like it. It seems like a good idea. Though i think that the ring the tyres had in 2010 were good too, to distinguish the soft from the hard compound. I would like that introduced as well, so the softest compound has a ring around the edges in the same colour as the writing, and then with the harder compound not having those stripes. I think that would be the easiest way to see what tyres they are on.
antonyob said on 18th March 2011, 16:54
Pirellis were always the school boys choice when i was a t’lad. Gripping stuff !
PJ Tierney said on 18th March 2011, 17:00
I think the silver should be green but other than they they’re not bad.
I’ll miss the green rings of Bridgestone but these will be far easier to identify.
BasCB (@bascb) said on 18th March 2011, 17:02
I think the trouble with green is, in normal light it might be often mistaken for blue. And for colourblind people they cannot see weather it is red or green.
Maciek said on 18th March 2011, 17:34
Ahh – thanks BasCB for acknowledging us colour-deficients : ) I’m glad they’ve chosen the colours they have, blue and green might indeed have been confusing for me!
Pika said on 18th March 2011, 17:00
What happened with the green color? They’re using it at testing.
Giovanni said on 18th March 2011, 17:29
It’s just a guess, but maybe Pirelli will use green for testing tyres (the friday-extra tyres).
Oliver said on 18th March 2011, 17:30
I feel the intermediate tyres should have come before the wets in order of hardness.
SennaNmbr1 (@sennanmbr1) said on 18th March 2011, 17:48
What a superb idea!!
PeriSoft said on 18th March 2011, 18:50
Oh, great – it’s the iTire. Peach, plum, bondi blue, rose, mauve…
Icthyes (@icthyes) said on 18th March 2011, 19:25
Somehow the colouring of the tyres creates cheap, artificial racing. I’m not sure how yet, give me a couple of minutes.
;)
The super-softs will look great on the Ferrari and match the McLarens and Renaults very well! I wonder if the teams will choose for their cars to be photographed with the “correct” complimentary colour for their official photos!
JUGNU said on 18th March 2011, 19:33
What are the chances Pirelli tried to make all teams happy(as much as possible in current situation). Most teams and especially drivers are complaining and seem to be quite unhappy with new tyres.
Red= Ferrari
Yellow = Renault, Lotus Racing
Silver = Mclaren, Mercedes
Blue = Redbull, Williams
Orange = Force India
White = Sauber
Good effort by Pirelli. Liking it better than the boring green of Bridgestone.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner) said on 18th March 2011, 22:09
Think that might be looking into it a little bit too much ;)
But a race like that would be bloody phenomenal! :D
I liked the Bridgestone green…thought it sat nice against the Mercedes GP Petronas green.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner) said on 18th March 2011, 20:15
Well I guess it kinda makes sense when you look at it for a while. At least this gives us time to memorise them. However, we already know the tyres for the next couple of months anyways.
John H said on 18th March 2011, 20:29
Looks great. Anything but those ‘environmentally friendly yeah right’ green stripes.
sato113 (@sato113) said on 19th March 2011, 11:44
lol, cotd!!!
McG (@mcg) said on 18th March 2011, 21:53
Yellow white and silver will be hard to distinguish on TV.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner) said on 18th March 2011, 22:11
The biggest contrast you will have will be Silver to Yellow…given the tyres compound choices are always at least one step apart.