Pirelli will allocate the same tyre compounds for the Canadian, European and British races that were supplied last year.
Drivers will have the soft and super-soft tyres in Montreal, soft and medium in Valencia, and soft and hard in Silverstone.
Here are the tyre allocations announced so far this year and how they compare to last year:
Circuit | 2012 Option | 2012 Prime | 2011 Option | 2011 Prime |
Melbourne | Soft | Medium | Soft | Hard |
Sepang | Medium | Hard | Soft | Hard |
Shanghai | Soft | Medium | Soft | Hard |
Bahrain | Soft | Medium | No race | No race |
Catalunya | Soft | Hard | Soft | Hard |
Monte-Carlo | Super-soft | Soft | Super-soft | Soft |
Montreal | Super-soft | Soft | Super-soft | Soft |
Valencia | Soft | Medium | Soft | Medium |
Silverstone | Soft | Hard | Soft | Hard |
Pirelli’s soft, medium and hard tyres are softer compounds than those used last year.
2012 F1 season
- Which was F1’s best down-to-the-wire title fight?
- Hulkenberg’s missed win should have been “high point” for Force India
- Kubica reveals he almost withdrew from fateful 2011 rally – and had 2012 Ferrari F1 deal
- 2012 F1 season Blu-Ray “Victorious Vettel” reviewed
- 2012 F1 season DVD “Victorious Vettel” reviewed
Browse all 2012 F1 season articles
BasCB (@bascb)
21st May 2012, 8:00
Pretty much as expected, although I would have fancied them to take a few more gambles maybe, because the teams will certainly start to get a grip on the tyres in the next few races.
GeeMac (@geemac)
21st May 2012, 8:46
Get a grip…I see what you did there!
BasCB (@bascb)
21st May 2012, 9:09
:-)
sumedh
21st May 2012, 9:49
I hoped they would try something different with Valencia atleast..
dennis (@dennis)
21st May 2012, 10:57
Agreed, Valencia could have used a more exciting choice.
Funkyf1 (@funkyf1)
21st May 2012, 12:36
Change the track for starters :P
Nick.UK (@)
21st May 2012, 13:02
Yeah, to a new circuit lol.
javlinsharp (@javlinsharp)
21st May 2012, 18:22
My best plan to improve Valencia includes dynamite, bull-dozers, and exactly zero Herman Tilke.
Blackmamba (@blackmamba)
22nd May 2012, 11:58
gimme some weed and some strong brew and I will go on a rampage for ya! God, I hate that circuit!!!!!!!
Hadzhiev (@hadzhiev)
21st May 2012, 12:31
It’s nice to see how the photos of Michael Schumacher are persistently connected with the threads for the Pirelli’s tyres in Formula One.
I strongly believe one day most people will understand that Formula One is not all about conserving tyres and then the merits of his straightforwardness will be estimated with due attention and in the proper manner.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
21st May 2012, 12:51
@hadzhiev There’s no image in this article.
Are you talking about the caption picture on the home page? If so you should know it was chosen because I was looking for a picture of a driver in Canada last year on super-soft tyres.
dennis (@dennis)
21st May 2012, 13:23
But that doesn’t explain why World Trade Center 7 collapsed as well, if you catch my drift.
javlinsharp (@javlinsharp)
21st May 2012, 18:24
I think its safe to say “Drift=uncaught”
Mayank (@mjf1fan)
21st May 2012, 17:54
@hadzhiev… +1
javlinsharp (@javlinsharp)
21st May 2012, 18:28
@hadzhiev, much agreed.
I too fear F1 conversion to being a “Race of the Conservative” Much like Nascar and Indy. These races are very much processional until the last few laps, during which there is a mad dash, and rarely any reason for each front running driver to win except luck.
In Nascar, drivers do not generally fight for positions early on. As long as they are in the top 10 and not to far back with 10 laps to go, they have nearly an identical chance of winning.
Lets hope F1 can be better than that.
@HoHum (@hohum)
22nd May 2012, 1:56
@jalinsharp, me too, another analogy is bicycle racing where all the action for the day happens in the last 20 seconds.
@HoHum (@hohum)
22nd May 2012, 2:00
“@javlinsharp“, it’s wierd, typos are invisible until you hit “send”.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
22nd May 2012, 8:41
@hohum Or ‘Publish’!
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
21st May 2012, 23:45
@hadzhiev I don’t think Formula 1 is all about tyre conservation. I don’t really get why only 5 races in to this season people think that it will be like this forever. That’s not the case and it won’t be.
Formula 1, for me, is about working against the odds. Sure, Pirelli could make another set of Bridgestones, but where would be the challenge in that?
Make them work for it, make them complain if they want. I’m watching the top level of motorsport here.
Hadzhiev (@hadzhiev)
22nd May 2012, 0:31
Keep watchin’, then.
I do not mind.
And believe me, if you have 5 different winners in only 5 races (this was almost one-third of the season few years ago), something is not right.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
22nd May 2012, 8:39
@hadzhiev What was wrong in 1983, then?
Hadzhiev (@hadzhiev)
22nd May 2012, 12:48
@keithcollantine The fastest drivers were not dependent on 1-2 °C margin in the track temperature to be “the fastest” and also the best drivers weren’t dependent on artificial gimmicks, then.
One should also consider the very important fact that there were lots of racing incidents early in the 1984 Formula One Season thus much that it mixed the picture to a great extent.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
22nd May 2012, 12:51
@hadzhiev That doesn’t answer the question.
You said there must be something wrong if five different drivers can win the first five races. That happened in 1983. So, in your view, what was wrong in 1983?
Hadzhiev (@hadzhiev)
22nd May 2012, 15:59
@keithcollantine
I’ve answered your question, Keith.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
22nd May 2012, 16:20
@hadzhiev You said: “The fastest drivers were not dependent on 1-2 °C margin in the track temperature to be “the fastest” and also the best drivers weren’t dependent on artificial gimmicks, then.” Is that what you’re saying was “wrong” in 1983? If so, why?
Hadzhiev (@hadzhiev)
22nd May 2012, 17:15
No, my post as a whole is the exact answer to the question, in particular, the second part of it.
“One should also consider the very important fact that there were lots of racing incidents early in the 1984 Formula One Season thus much that it mixed the picture to a great extent.”
And I did not say it was “wrong”. The incidents were the reason of the mixed up picture then. That’s all.
@HoHum (@hohum)
22nd May 2012, 1:41
So in reality, at Monaco we will have the ” super-super-soft” and the ” super-soft” even though by use of semantics it will be the same as last year.
@HoHum (@hohum)
22nd May 2012, 1:48
Would be nice if Pirelli gave up the name game and simply gave the tyres a 1 to 10 hardness grade, so we don’t have the ridiculous situation of the “Softs” being the hard option, must be totally incomprehensible for new or casual viewers.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
22nd May 2012, 8:40
@hohum Give them some credit. It doesn’t ask too much of people to understand that some tracks require softer tyres than others.