Pirelli to use hardest tyres for United States GP

2012 F1 season

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Pirelli will bring its two hardest tyre compounds for F1’s first race at the Circuit of the Americas in November.

The medium and hard tyres will be used for the last two races of the season In the USA and Brazil. Pirelli chose its soft and medium tyres for last year’s race at Interlagos.

As in 2011, the soft and medium tyres will be used for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina circuit.

Here is Pirelli’s complete 2012 tyre allocation:

Circuit2012 Option2012 Prime2011 Option2011 Prime
MelbourneSoftMediumSoftHard
SepangMediumHardSoftHard
ShanghaiSoftMediumSoftHard
BahrainSoftMediumNo raceNo race
CatalunyaSoftHardSoftHard
Monte-CarloSuper-softSoftSuper-softSoft
MontrealSuper-softSoftSuper-softSoft
ValenciaSoftMediumSoftMedium
SilverstoneSoftHardSoftHard
HockenheimringSoftMediumNo raceNo race
HungaroringSoftMediumSuper SoftSoft
Spa-FrancorchampsMediumHardSoftMedium
MonzaMediumHardSoftMedium
SingaporeSuper SoftSoftSuper SoftSoft
SuzukaSoftHardSoftMedium
KoreaSuper SoftSoftSuper softSoft
BuddhSoftHardHardSoft
Yas MarinaSoftMediumSoftMedium
Circuit of the AmericasMediumHardNo raceNo race
InterlagosMediumHardSoftMedium

2012 F1 season


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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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30 comments on “Pirelli to use hardest tyres for United States GP”

  1. mmm…, why the sudden change at Interlagos?

    1. It’s in line with what they did at Spa and Monza. They have softened all but the SuperSoft this year and this years Hard is similar to last years Medium.

  2. According to the table, last year in India the hard was the option and the soft was the prime. Is that a typo or did they change the way they named them for that race?

    1. @davea86 @estesark

      This question always gets asked when there’s a new tyre compounds article. Here’s the answer:

      https://www.racefans.net/2012/07/31/pirelli-bring-harder-tyres-spa-monza/comment-page-1/#comment-1050593

      1. Thanks, didn’t know that!

      2. @keithcollantine Thanks for that Keith. Should have done a bit of research before posting. Sounds like you’ve answered that a few times before.

    2. Changed them for that race so that they had more of the harder tyre, I think. Either that or it was the other way around.

      1. Well, one more prime set so soft I guess :P Makes more sense.

  3. I think the prime and option tyres for Buddh in 2011 are the wrong way round.

    1. Looks like @davea86 beat me to it.

  4. Good grief, Austin is only a month away. It seems to have arrived awfully quickly. Does anyone have an update on the circuit state?

    1. This is an October update from CotA. I love the look of the red paint.

      http://circuitoftheamericas.com/articles/cota-october-construction-update

      1. That does look pretty impressive, thanks.

      2. the wide stripes that are unpainted in these pictures are now blue.

        Pitcture Here

        1. **picture**

          1. Very nice. I really hope this is going to be one of the greats, as it looks great, so lets hope it races well.

        2. Wow, very American.

      3. @philereid Looks good! I’d like to see some blue on there as well but that red is certainly vivid enough.

  5. Personally I think this is just caution as it is of course a new circuit; in India Pirelli gave extra sets of the Hards to which they discovered that there was almost no degradation. Next year I expect a slightly more aggressive tyre choice.

  6. Can’t wait to go to Austin!

  7. I like this choice. It seems that Ferrari is strugling on the SS tires :)

  8. Is there a link to the full size version of the image of the pirelli tires that accompanies this article on the main index page? This is the small image: https://www.racefans.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/tyres-hock-2012-4-e1350395837930-208×117.jpg

  9. im happy that pirelli are going “conservative” in the final races as i don’t want the championship to come down to tyre deg, i want to see a straight fight over the final races where the contenders are able to drive flat out rather than having to worry about tyres falling off a cliff.

    i think korea, monaco & other races showed that having high tyre deg isn’t always a good thing as drivers cruising around well off the limit because of tyre concerns is no fun to watch, a bad thing for the championship & not what f1 should be about nor what should decide the title.

    1. i think korea, monaco & other races showed that having high tyre deg isn’t always a good thing as drivers cruising around well off the limit because of tyre concerns is no fun to watch, a bad thing for the championship & not what f1 should be about nor what should decide the title.

      Couldn’t agree more. The tyre preservation has become too big a factor of each GP, ridding off genuine driver’s skills for fight for better position and ensuing show off. These days most are talking ’bout tyre preservation and decides to cruise at a given position rather than challenging.

  10. Hm, so it seems Pirelli expect the tyres to get a pounding in Austin then. Maybe also because of relatively warm weather and new track making it slippery?

    1. @bascb I guess they’re just being as cautious as they can be. You’d think the track would be very smooth to the touch but it won’t be rubbered in at all…the drivers will have to lay their own!

  11. Of course Pirelli are taking their hardest two compounds to Austin – the last thing they want is their new audience of Americans to tune in to two hours of tyre conservation!

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