Pirelli announces final 2015 tyre nominations

2015 F1 season

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Ecclestone has extended Pirelli’s F1 deal
Pirelli has confirmed the tyre nominations for the final four races of 2015, which includes the first race at the revised Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico.

F1’s official tyre supplier will bring the soft and medium tyres for the first Mexican Grand Prix in 23 years. The same tyres will be used at the Circuit of the Americas and Interlagos, matching last year’s tyre selection.

There will be no change in the tyre selection for the final race of 2015 either: the softest tyre options will be used at Yas Marina.

On Sunday Pirelli announced it had agreed terms with Bernie Ecclestone to continue as F1’s official tyre supplier until 2019.

2015 tyre nominations

Circuit2015 Option2015 Prime2014 Option2014 Prime
MelbourneSoftMediumSoftMedium
SepangMediumHardMediumHard
ShanghaiSoftMediumSoftMedium
BahrainSoftMediumSoftMedium
CatalunyaMediumHardMediumHard
Monte-CarloSuper-softSoftSuper SoftSoft
MontrealSuper-softSoftSuper SoftSoft
Red Bull RingSuper-softSoftSuper SoftSoft
SilverstoneMediumHardMediumHard
HungaroringSoftMediumSoftMedium
Spa-FrancorchampsSoftMediumSoftMedium
MonzaSoftMediumMediumHard
SingaporeSuper-softSoftSuper SoftSoft
SuzukaMediumHardMediumHard
SochiSuper-softSoftSoftMedium
Circuit of the AmericasSoftMediumSoftMedium
Autodromo Hermanos RodriguezSoftMediumn/an/a
InterlagosSoftMediumSoftMedium
Yas MarinaSuper SoftSoftSuper SoftSoft

2015 F1 season

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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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23 comments on “Pirelli announces final 2015 tyre nominations”

  1. What’s the idea behind the hard tire when it’s used for 3 race throughout the calendar and is not the preferred one for 2 of these 3 races? Wouldn’t it be nice to drop it off completely and leave the remaining 3 types for all the teams to choose as they please.

    1. They might create an even softer tyre than the super-soft, drop the hard tyre, and then rename all of them so every tyre type is one step softer than last year. Of course allocation would need to be changed but it should be possible to make it work.

      Now whether this is a good thing or not, I don’t know. But I’m sure they will be able to say that it is good for the show.

      1. But then we’d just end up with tyres like we had last year that wore out after five laps. Let’s face it, Pirelli won’t be allowed to make the tyres both softer and more durable; Bernie and CVC will see to that.

  2. ‘Yeah in hindsight, I think we could have been a bit less conservative on the tyre selection here’- quote Paul Hembry after the Mexican GP.

  3. The tire choises make sense.
    I would however have liked to see something more exiting, like bring the Super-Softs as option tires for the American and Brazilian GP. That way it would be a step between compounds, and thus more of a strategic hurdle for teams to tackle. Like we have seen in the past, the few times we’ve had a step between compounds, races have been great.

    1. i’d rather they announce that there pulling out of f1 than announce what crap compounds there forcing drivers to cruise around way off the pace on.

      1. I do believe it isn’t degradation that is the problem. These tyres are simply too hard and consequently have poor grip levels meaning drivers can’t push as they would like. That is an answer to 2013 controversies.

      2. AH yes, the common ‘Pirelli sucks’ attitude that always totally ignores the fact that Pirelli is giving the organisers of F1 exactly what they asked for.

        1. @raceprouk, Yet only Pirelli was advocating this. None of the other tyre manufacturers involved with the 2011 tyre selection uttered a word about tyres needing to degrade.

          Michelin pretty much had the deal in the bag and they were going for tyres that lasted a normal amount of laps and were aiming for 18″ rims. They however were deemed too expensive and then just before the deadline Ecclestone shoved Pirelli into the limelight with their plan of fast degrading tyres to “improve the show”.

          It most definitely was not an FIA or FOTA requirement from the outset. So yeah, I’m going to blame Pirelli for it even though perhaps Ecclestone sold them on the idea to pretend their selection was based on anything else but the money (which it of course was actually based on).

          1. You know what? I’m done arguing about the tyres. By all means everyone, just keep ignoring the facts. Let’s instead continue this pathetic witch-hunt until the day the sport dies from far more important problems.

          2. @raceprouk, Yeah lets just ignore the facts. Go on a pathetic which hunt to find some other problem which is more important than the drivers not being able to race. Perhaps giving FI and Suaber a few million more is going to magically solve “everything”. Yay!

          3. Thankyou for proving you’re doing nothing but blowing hot air.

      3. I agree. This is the image of today’s F1. Complete nonsense. Let the drivers use the compound they want to go faster, instead of these ridiculous gimmick rules.
        Gosh, how annoying is this….

    2. I think a step between compounds would be a bad move; it’s already bad enough now, where neighbouring compounds deliver lap time differences of up to two seconds at some tracks.

      1. @raceprouk, At witch track was that the case? Normally there is something like 6 to 8 tenths between compounds in race trim.

        1. I’m sure there was one race where the difference was well over a second… Spa? But then the length of that track always exaggerates the differences anyway.

        2. @raceprouk and @me4me, I remembered that 2 seconds offset too.

          Checked the Pirelli press releases and they indicated this before the Spa GP:

          Expected performance gap between the two compounds: 1.8 – 2.0 seconds per lap.

          http://www.pirelli.com/corporate/en/press/2015/08/17/belgian-grand-prix-preview-spa-francorchamps-august-20-23-2015/

          1. @patrickl, Previews aren’t really relevant though. Going by the actual lap times, the difference was far less.
            https://www.racefans.net/2015/08/23/no-drop-off-in-vettels-times-before-tyre-blow-out/

            And stint info for that race:
            https://www.racefans.net/2015/08/24/williams-to-investigate-bizarre-bottas-tyre-mix-up/

          2. Hamilton goes from 1:14 on medium to 1:12 on softs. Rosberg from 1:15 to 1:13. That’s both 2 seconds per lap faster on the softer compound.

  4. Why not let the teams opt for an extra compound of their choice, like Supersofts for COTA, alongwith the current allocation.. That way teams who have managed to make the right choices may reap heavy benefits

    1. @egorov They say they are working into the free choice of tyres for 2016 and close to reach and agreement, also adding the super super soft tyre for next year.

  5. I wonder how likely it is the ‘free tyre choice’ will actually happen next season?

  6. Brazil could have super softs and softs no? Or did Massa complain last year and they kept the mediums…

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