TYRE PREVIEW: Pirelli set to debut brand-new C6 tyre in Mexico

Formula One’s sole tyre supplier Pirelli has announced that drivers will be able to test the 2025 tyre compounds in the second practice session at this weekend’s Mexico City Grand Prix.

The second stop on Formula 1’s long trip to the Americas takes place in the Mexican capital, Mexico City, before the circus moves onto Sao Paulo to end the run of three consecutive races.

At the circuit named in honour of the brothers, Pedro and Ricardo Rodriguez, the available tyres are the C3 as Hard, the C4 as Medium and the C5 as Soft, a step softer than in the past, as was already the case last year, the decision taken in order to open up more strategic options for the race.

The first day of track action, Friday 25 October, will be slightly different to usual. The second free practice session will be entirely given over to validating the softer compounds in Pirelli’s 2025 range (C4, C5 and C6) in what is known as an in-competition test. The session is extended by 30 minutes to 90 and all drivers and teams will have to follow a specific programme established by the Pirelli engineers.

Apart from the dry tyre allocation specifically for the Grand Prix (two sets of Hard, three of Medium and seven of Soft, one less than usual), each driver will have two additional sets of tyres: one will be identical to the one available for the weekend, to act as a baseline, while the other will be a 2025 prototype option, both in terms of compound and of construction – actually the latter already homologated back in September.

As for the programme, the Milan-based company noted: “These two sets will not have any sidewall colour bands. The plan is for the programme to include a performance run and a long run for each set, with every team running the same number of laps with the same quantity of fuel on board, dependent on the type of run.

“The only exception will be in the case of a regular race driver being replaced for FP1 by a young driver. These race drivers will carry out the Pirelli test for 60 minutes of FP2 only and will have an additional set of Medium compound tyres to catch up as much as possible on acquiring data for the rest of the weekend.

“All the test data will then be analysed by Pirelli engineers to fine tune the characteristics of the compounds prior to the group test in Abu Dhabi, which starts on the Tuesday after the final round of the 2024 championship. It means that teams will have to prepare their cars for qualifying and the race in the space of two hours: FP1 on Friday and FP3 on Saturday.”