F1 tire rules for the 2025 season, explained

The 2025 Formula 1 season is now just weeks away.

Tomorrow the season will unofficially begin in a first-of-its-kind event, the season launch at The O2 in London. To honor the sport’s 75th anniversary the teams are coming together to unveil their liveries for the upcoming season, with all twenty drivers as well as each team principal expected to be in attendance. Among the many storylines for this event? The true public debut of Lewis Hamilton as a driver for Ferrari.

Then next week all ten teams will be in action for pre-season testing in Bahrain, at the Bahrain International Circuit.

Ahead of the 2025 season — and with some changes to discuss — this is a perfect time to talk tires.

Who supplies tires for F1?

Since 2011, Italian manufacturer Pirelli has been the exclusive tire supplier for F1. The company has been associated with the sport since its inception, as Pirelli was one of four tire manufacturers who supplied tires back in 1950, the sport’s inaugural season.

In October of 2023, the company signed a new deal with F1 to remain the sport’s exclusive tire supplier through the 2027 season, with an option to extend the deal for an additional year.

Over the past 14 seasons, Pirelli has aided F1 as the sport worked through various changes to both the Technical Regulations as well as the Sporting Regulations, including the return to the ground effect cars for the 2022 season. The current contract extension also means that Pirelli will be the exclusive tire supplier for the next wave of technical changes, that go into effect for the 2026 F1 season.

What kinds of tires are available?

Generally speaking, there are two types of tires available: The slicks, and the wet-weather tires. As we will see in a moment there are different compounds available for both slick and wet-weather tires.

The slick tires have no tread on them and are the main tires used during practice, qualifying, and racing, and the varying compounds have different levels of grip available to the drivers. Teams will only turn to one of the two varieties of wet-weather tires when conditions are such that the amount of water present on the track makes running on slick tires too difficult.

What slick compounds are available for 2025?

This season Pirelli has six slick compounds available, ranging from hardest to softest: The C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, and C6 compounds.

The C6 is an ultra-soft compound that Pirelli is introducing this season, expected to be used on street circuits.

As a rule of thumb the softer the compound the higher the grip level, but the lower the durability. Conversely the harder the compound is, the less grip the drivers will have, but they will be able to stay out on the track for longer runs.

Each race weekend Pirelli will designate three compounds for use: The “hard,” the “medium,” and the “soft,” based on the characteristics of the given circuit. This could mean that one week a compound is designated as the hard, but then due to the characteristics of the circuit the next week that same compound is suddenly the medium.

Once those designations are made, the tires for a given race weekend are given a color designation on the outside to help fans identify what compound each driver is using. Hard tires are given a white band, medium tires a yellow band, and the soft tires are given a red band. In this below image you can see Pirelli engineers working on a set of medium tires:

Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Due to their grip levels, soft tires are generally used during qualifying, or for short stints during races. Mediums and hards are typically favored on Sundays, although as we will see in a moment there is some strategy to consider, so you might see a team bolt on a set of softs at the start of the race to try and pick up track position, or in the closing stages to try and make up time.

The 2025 F1 season begins with the Australian Grand Prix, and at last year’s race, Pirelli designated the three softest compounds in their range — the C3, C4, and C5 — as the three choices for the week. The C3 was the hard compound, the C4 stood as the medium, and the C5 was the soft.

Pirelli has yet to identify the three compounds that will be used at this year’s Australian Grand Prix, but with the introduction of the C6 for this season, there is a chance we see the ultra-soft right away.

What weather compounds are available for 2025?

As with previous seasons, there are two wet-weather tires available for teams.

The first is the “intermediate,” which is used during damp conditions when there is no standing water on the track. The tread on this tire allows for a single tire to displace 35 to 40 litres of water per second, when the car is traveling around 300 kilometers per hour, according to Pirelli. This almost means that an F1 car equipped with four intermediate tires can displace 150 liters of water per second at that speed. These tires are designated with a green band on the side.

Then there are the full “wet” tires, used when there is standing water on the track and/or during heavy rain. Pirelli notes that the full wet tires can displace double the amount of water their intermediate counterparts displace, given the depth of the treads.

How many tires does each driver get for a race weekend?

The tire allotment depends on whether the race in question is a standard Grand Prix, of an F1 Sprint Race weekend.

For standard Grand Prix weekends, drivers are given an allotment of 13 sets of dry weather tires, four sets of intermediates, and three sets of the full wet tires. The slick tires are broken down as follows: two sets of hards, three sets of mediums, and eight sets of softs.

Drivers are also required to return two sets of tires to Pirelli following each of the three practice sessions, leaving seven sets for qualifying and the race itself.

On F1 Sprint Race weekends, the allocation of tires drops from 13 sets to 12. Drivers receive two sets of the hards, four of the mediums, and six of the softs. The total number of wet-weather sets remains the same but becomes five intermediate and two wet sets.

Also on F1 Sprint Race weekends, drivers are required to use the medium compound during both SQ1 and SQ2, and can only have the softs bolted on for SQ3, should they advance to the final segment of qualifying.

What other rules should fans know about tire usage?

The final thing to know about tire usage in F1 is this: If a race has been deemed “dry” by race officials, then drivers have to use two different compounds during the race. For example, drivers that begin a given race on a set of mediums have to make at least one pit stop to switch to softs or hards. Or, if a driver starts on a set of hards and puts in a long stint to start the race, they will need to stop at least once to switch to either mediums or softs.

Once you have used two different compounds, you have satisfied this rule requirement. For example, Carlos Sainz Jr., who won the 2024 Australian Grand Prix, started with a set of medium tires, pitted on Lap 16 to switch to hards, and pitted again on Lap 42 for another set of hards.

Another example is George Russell, who won the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix after a clash between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris in front of him opened the door for the Mercedes driver to storm to the front. Russell began that race on a set of mediums, pitted on Lap 22 for another set of mediums, and made the switch to the hards when he came into the pits on Lap 46.

This rule does not come into play if race officials designate a race as “wet” due to weather conditions. That means in rainy weather teams may run the entire race on the same set of tires. However, tire wear could necessitate a pit stop for fresh rubber.