by Linus O'Howell
From the 2011 Season to now, the tyres used by teams and drivers in Formula 1 have been supplied solely by Pirelli and it was announced today that Pirelli will continue to be the sole provider to Formula 1 up until the end of at least the 2027 season. It’s also worth mentioning that Pirelli will also continue to supply both Formula 2 and Formula 3 and F1 Academy as well. Due to this, I thought it would be a good idea to go over three crazy scenarios that have happened with the Pirelli tyres over the years, and feel free to mention other ones that haven’t been mentioned down in the comments!
Mandated Tyre Length: Qatar 2023
📸 Piastri leads Norris at Lusail.
Whilst recent bias made play a factor in this one, it’s fair to say that the scenario which took place at the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix was very unique.
Due to the high speed nature and kerbs around the Lusail International Circuit, Pirelli were concerned about their tyres sustaining too much damage resulting in punctures and blowouts which meant the FIA brought in a rule for Sunday’s Grand Prix that no one was allowed to do more than 18 laps on one set of tyres.
This created a wild scenario in the race that was very hard to keep track of at times, but the decision was probably for the best, especially when you consider the fact that 4 drivers suffered punctures in the only previous Qatar Grand Prix in 2021 (even though those tyres were very different). I think the craziest thing about all of this is Pirelli brought the C1, C2, and C3 tyres so they couldn’t really get much more conservative.
Inters turn into Slicks: Turkey 2020
📸 A 'slick' line appeared on some cars intermediate tyres in Turkey.
The 2020 Turkish Grand Prix was pretty hectic and was a lot of fun to watch, but one of the biggest talking points was the tyres. In a race that started pretty wet, cars switched over to Intermediate tyres and the race went on, it became pretty clear that the track was maybe just to wet for dry tyres, but maybe a bit too warm for inters.
It then became clear that sticking it out on your original set of inters was the way to go as by the end of the race, the tread on the tyres had fallen off, meaning it was basically now a warm slick tyre.
This worked out massively well for both Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez who stayed out and finished 1-2 respectively (in a race that Hamilton was crowned a 7-time World Champion), but it didn’t work out well for either Lance Stroll or Alex Albon who really struggled to find any grip on their second set of Inters.
It’s especially worth mentioning that Stroll was leading the race before he pitted(something he didn’t want to do) and the Racing Point driver’s lack of pace on his new tyres resulted in Racing Point keeping their other driver Perez out, something that worked wonders for them.
Lewis Hamilton Wins with 3 Tyres: Britain 2020
📸 Hamilton's shredded tyre on the last lap ensured a nail biting finish at Silverstone as he made his way to the flag over two thirds of the lap.
Formula 1 in 2020 was pretty wild for a number of reasons, and I believe that the ending of the 2020 British Grand Prix was definetly one of those reasons. With just three laps to go, Valtteri Bottas, who was running second for Mercedes at the time, suffered a puncture at Village and Carlos Sainz suffered a puncture the lap later whilst running in a super P4 for McLaren.
However, the most memorable puncture of this race or any race for that matter came on the final lap of the Grand Prix as race leader Lewis Hamilton suffered a front-left puncture, but due to a 30-second gap he had built over Max Verstappen, Hamilton was able to get around the Silverstone Circuit in a quick enough fashion to take his 7th British Grand Prix victory in a year where he also went on to equal Michael Schumacher’s record of 7 World Drivers’ Championships.
Any other crazy scenarios that pop into your head regarding Pirelli’s near-13 year stint in Formula 1? Let us know down below!
📸 Image credits: Sky Sports, Formula Motorsport Limited, Moneygram Haas F1 Team.
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