After the first two rounds of the season in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, Formula 1 is preparing for the Asian trip, which will be followed by the US round in Miami. The long journey of the series will start next week on the continent of Oceania, more precisely in Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix: after a week's break, Formula 1 will move to Asia for the Japanese Grand Prix and the round in China, before another week off to face the journey to the United States.
As per the regulations, Pirelli has revealed several weeks in advance which compounds will be available to the teams for the upcoming events. The choices for Australia had already been made known last December, having opted for the three softest solutions of the entire range, thus using the C5 for the first time in the season.
On Thursday, however, the Milanese manufacturer told the teams what compounds will be available for the Grands Prix of Japan, China and Miami, scheduled for next April 7th to May 5th.
At Suzuka, one of the most severe tracks on tires in terms of loads, as per tradition the three hardest compounds in the range will be used, namely C1 as hard, C2 as medium and C3 as soft. The Rising Sun track is among the most demanding in the world championship, especially due to its high-speed sections which put the tires under stress: the first sector, with its long rapid sequence, tends to overheat the tyres, while the two Degner curves and the Spoon represent sections in which to deal with high lateral loads.
Pirelli tires in the paddock
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
However, the Japanese circuit is among the most complete in the world championship and, not surprisingly, it is among the most loved by drivers, who have always underlined how the potential of a Formula 1 car concretely emerges on this track.
For the other two events, the “intermediate” trio was selected, i.e. solutions that are in the middle of the complete range offered by Pirelli. Both in Shanghai and Miami the C2 was chosen as hard, the C3 as medium and the C4 as soft, thus aiming for a very flexible solution, even if they are very different tracks.
The Circus will return to Shanghai after almost five years and, although the teams still have a good amount of data accumulated from the seasons preceding the period of absence from the calendar, there will still be numerous unknowns. In these five years there are few references on the state of the asphalt, but also on how the new ground effect cars will adapt to the characteristics of a circuit characterized by a balanced mix of corners with different speed ranges and one of the longest straights of the entire season, over a kilometre.
Miami, on the other hand, is a relatively light track for the tires from the point of view of the asphalt and the layout, so much so that last year the teams completed the race with just one stop, alternating medium and hard. Compared to 2023, the tires have not changed, but there is the unknown temperature, which could be quite high, significantly impacting the thermal degradation of the tyres.
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