Pirelli has decided that the tires to be used by drivers and teams for next week's Azerbaijan GP will be the same as those chosen for the last round in Monaco
Pirelli, the official Formula 1 tire supplier, has already decided which of its compounds will be used in the next round of the Formula 1 calendar, the Azerbaijan GP scheduled for June 12. And just as in the last race, in Monaco, the sponsor has chosen to keep the softest possible range, with compounds C3, C4 and C5.
With very different characteristics from those found in Monaco - a track characterized by the need for a setup with a high degree of aerodynamic pressure - the Baku track in Azerbaijan combines sectors of tight corners and extremely technical with one of the longest straights on the calendar. Thus, the configuration of the cars needs to be mixed, which always brings an extra ingredient to the race.
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As for the compounds: the soft tire - with red stripe - will be C5, the medium tire - with yellow stripe - will be C4, while the hard compound - with white stripe - will be C3 throughout the weekend in Baku.
Last year, most of the grid opted for only one stop during the race - however, the race had a red flag at the end and still had a rule that the top-10 had to start on the tires used on the fastest lap in Q2. It is worth noting, however, that some drivers - Max Verstappen, for example - suffered punctures in their compounds during the race.
"Until Jeddah came along, Baku was the fastest street circuit of the year," said Mario Isola, Pirelli's motorsport director. "But the demands of this street track are still relatively low, as none of the corners take a huge amount of energy out of the tires due to the low levels of abrasion and contained side loads - meaning we can have the same nomination as Monaco. That said, the high speeds in Azerbaijan still put a certain demand on the tires," he explained.
"The main point is traction, with finding the right balance between the front and rear axles being the main challenge for all the teams: you need to have enough heat on the front tires to generate grip, despite the long straights that cool them down, but not too much heat at the rear, otherwise it's easy to overheat in the traction zones," he pointed out. "The track temperature is also inconsistent in Baku, so all in all it's quite a specific track with some different technical challenges that are the same for everyone," Isola finished.