Pirelli will continue with five tire compounds available in Formula 1 in 2027. Dario Marrafuschi, director of the Italian manufacturer’s motorsport division, confirmed that the possibility of introducing the C6 was discarded, keeping the range between C1 and C5. The decision follows the company’s philosophy of not changing a formula that has been working.
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“I can already say that there will still be five levels; we will not add or remove any level,” Marrafuschi told Motorsport. According to the executive, the brand did discuss creating a new compound but assessed that the performance difference between the C5 and a possible C6 would not justify the change. “We thought and discussed whether we should add a compound level, but, citing Monaco, in the end we saw that most cars started with the C4, that is, the medium compound.”
The C6 had already been discarded at the end of 2025 by Pirelli, due to the small performance difference compared to the C5. Furthermore, the performance of the softest compound at the Monaco GP reinforced the manufacturer’s decision. “In qualifying, even with one more preparation lap, it was exciting to see the C5 in the final minutes of the quali itself. Therefore, we consider that adding a softer compound is not necessary.”
Marrafuschi also explained that Pirelli will work to increase the performance difference and control degradation among the five compounds, allowing more balanced strategies during races: “The goals are always to have a performance differentiation between the five levels, like the fastest lap, and proportional degradation, so that we can make choices that, at each GP, lead to strategies that are somehow comparable.”
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The director cited recent examples, such as Barcelona and Austria, where different strategies were closer, and highlighted that this will be the goal for the future. “In Silverstone, the one-stop and two-stop strategies were far apart, but, thinking about next year, we will work, for example, to make them much closer to each other, so that, unless there are yellow flags, there is room for teams and drivers to choose different strategies.”
Exclusive supplier of the category for 15 years, Pirelli is already working on the development of tires for the next season, with homologation scheduled for September.
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