Pirelli confirm end to crazy tyre names in 2019

Pirelli confirm end to crazy tyre names in 2019

Originally written by Joas van Wingerden. This version is a translation.

Saturday 20 October 2018 16:24

Pirelli have confirmed that Formula 1 tyres will only be known as 'hard', 'medium' and 'soft' from 2019 and beyond, with a simple white, yellow and red colour scheme to cut out confusion for viewers. The same breadth of slick compounds will be available next year, however the growingly ludicrous naming conventions will be ditched.

Compounds ranging from 'superhard' to 'hypersoft' have been available throughout 2018 – although the former has not been used at a single race.

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Pirelli's method of choosing three of the seven compounds for a race will remain unchanged, however they will be known at each grand prix in much simpler terms, with a colour scheme that will remain unchanged.

Numbers change, performance remains. Gearing down from 7 to 3 colours: for the 2019 F1 season we'll be out on the tracks with Red, Yellow and White tyre colours.? #Pirelli #Fit4F1 #F1 pic.twitter.com/EEWeNLJzfu — Pirelli Motorsport (@pirellisport) October 20, 2018

Mario Isola, Pirelli head of car racing, said: "We've been talking about this with the teams, FIA and Formula 1 for a while.

"The idea behind the change is to make all the tyres more easily recognizable and explainable – especially for television – while still clearly denoting which specific compounds are being used at each race."

Pirelli confirmed that the intermediate and extreme wet compounds will remain with a green and blue sidewall stripe respectively.

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