Pirelli Motorsport has announced the compounds of tyre they will bring to the opening three races of the 2022 Formula 1 season in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Australia. The race in Bahrain will herald the debut of Pirelli’s eighteen-inch tyres.
After numerous tests with mule cars across the past twelve months, teams finally got to test the eighteen-inch rubber with 2022 machinery during pre-season testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya last month after a regulation change moved the tyre size away from the traditional, and outdated, thirteen-inch tyres.
With the season just two weeks away, Formula 1’s sole tyre manufacturer has revealed that the hardest tyres available to the teams – the C1, C2 and C3 – will be available at the Bahrain International Circuit on the 18-20 March. In 2021, with the thirteen-inch tyres, they were a step softer, but with Bahrain traditionally seeing extreme tyre wear, it was decided to go for the hardest options for 2022.
The race in Saudi Arabia at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit will see the tyres go a step softer, with the C2, C3 and C4 being used as they were in 2021, while the C2, C3 and C5 will be used in Formula 1’s return to Albert Park in Australia after two years off the calendar due to COVID-19 restrictions in the country.
When Formula 1 last raced in Australia, Pirelli brought the middle of the range C2, C3 and C4 to Albert Park, but with track times likely be considerably shorter this year following a track layout change, the Italian company have opted to introduce the C5 for 2022.
The compounds for the first European race of the season – the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari – will be unveiled at a later date.
