By Balazs Szabo on

Expecting a significant increase in load for this weekend’s Suzuka race, Formula One’s sole tyre supplier Pirelli have elected to mandate very high starting minimum pressures.

After two race weekends with softer compounds, the C1, the hardest compound of the 2025 range, will make its season debut at Suzuka, joined as usual by the C2 and the C3. That is not surprising considering the layout of the Suzuka circuit which is one of the toughest tracks on the calendar when it comes to tyres.

Something new for this year is the fact that a large part of the track has been resurfaced, from the exit of the last chicane to the end of the first sector. This is an important section, as it features medium and high speed corners, some of them long ones, such as the first two after the start-finish straight, where tyres come under a lot of stress.

It is worth noting that, of the three compounds available in Japan, the C1 is the one that most closely resembles its 2024 iteration, while the C2 especially and the C3, have undergone the most changes in terms of performance, being softer than last year. Therefore, it will be interesting to see how the teams will manage their tyre allocation over the course of the three free practice sessions as they try to establish the best-set up for their cars, with a focus on race strategy.

Pirelli revealed that pre-event simulations, carried out using data supplied by the teams, have suggested that lap times will come down thanks to the combined effect of the additional grip from the new surface and the increase in performance from the 2025 cars, with the Milan-based tyre manufacturer reckoning that the drop in lap times ‘will be around the one and a half seconds mark.”

Pirelli have also revealed that the required minimum start pressures have been slightly modified across both axles, with the front coming down by a half psi from 25 to 24.5 and the rear increasing by the same amount from 23 to 23.5.


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