Formula 1

C0 – new Pirelli tyre compound for 2023 F1 season

Published

1 month ago

16/02/2023

Pirelli’s announcement of a new C0 tire as part of its tyre selection for the early races of the 2023 Formula 1 season may have caught you off guard, but it doesn’t signify a significant shift in their strategy.

Pirelli has made changes to its tires for the 2023 season, with the main aim of enhancing the understeer balance from last year’s tires. However, the compounds have also been adjusted.

As a component of these updates, the C1 tire has been slightly softened, bringing it nearer in firmness to the C2 tire in Pirelli’s range.

However, Pirelli opted to keep the previous C1 compound for deployment at high-energy tracks, which means it is still available for sporadic usage during this season.

Pirelli has previously implemented specific measures for high-energy circuits, such as introducing a tire with a tread that was roughly 0.4mm thinner for tracks like Barcelona, Paul Ricard, and Silverstone in 2018.

The introduction of the ‘C0’ tire is a more moderate approach, but it guarantees the availability of an extremely sturdy hard tire for the most challenging tracks on the calendar in terms of tire wear. This practical and sensible choice is a reflection of how effective the C1 compound was found to be on specific tracks last year.

“At the end of the last season,” Pirelli F1 boss Mario Isola announced, “we have resolved to homologate six compounds for the upcoming year, rather than five.”

“We did not want to discard the current C1 compound, which performed well at circuits such as Zandvoort and Silverstone,” Isola explained.

“Our solution was to launch an updated C1 compound that offered more grip than the previous version. As a result, the previous C1 compound has been reclassified as the C0 tire. The new C1 tire is now much more comparable to the C2, which was our desired outcome,” Isola clarified.

“The only objective that we were unable to achieve was creating a new C3 tire that would sit between the C2 and C4 in terms of performance,” Isola admitted.

The C1 compound was utilized only five times last season at Bahrain, Spain, Britain, the Netherlands, and Japan. These circuits are all known for their high-energy demands on the tires.

Pirelli has already revealed the compounds that will be employed for the first three races, which includes the new C1, C2, and C3 tires for Bahrain. Therefore, the Spanish Grand Prix in June will be the first race where the C0 tire might be put into use.

Pirelli has also confirmed that the C2 to C4 tire compounds will be utilized for the second and third races of the season, which will be held in Saudi Arabia and Australia, respectively.

Pirelli tyre 2023 F1 Pirelli tyre 2023 F1

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