23/11/2017
NEWS STORY
For 2018, Pirelli will introduce seven slick tyres to Formula 1. As well as the five compounds seen this year, which will be considerably softer compared to 2017, there will be two new compounds and therefore two new colours.
For all seven slick tyres, there will be fresh constructions and working ranges. The Cinturato Green intermediate and Blue full wet will be unchanged in colour but also benefit from some technical improvements for 2018.
The first brand-new entry is the P Zero Orange superhard, the hardest compound of the range that will maintain the orange colour that for many years has symbolised the most durable compound of them all. The new superhard enters the family as something of an 'insurance policy', given that all the other compounds have gone a lot softer, as requested by teams and drivers and developed by Pirelli throughout more than 20 days of testing in 2017. Slotting in below the new superhard is the hard compound, which next year takes on a new ice blue colour.
The P Zero White medium, P Zero Yellow soft, P Zero Red supersoft and P Zero Purple ultrasoft remain unchanged in colour although as mentioned before they will be a lot softer than 2017, underlining the trend towards a softer range across the board.
Completing the 2018 rainbow is another brand-new tyre: the P Zero Pink hypersoft, which was christened by more than 30,000 followers who took part in a poll via three of Pirelli's social media channels (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram). This is actually the second time that Pirelli has involved its social followers in naming a tyre. The first time at the end of 2015 was to name the ultrasoft tyre, where purple was chosen the winner.
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"Compared to this year, when the tyres grew by 25% to fit a brand-new generation of cars, the changes for next year are less far-reaching," said Mario Isola. "However, we're pleased to present some important innovations with softer and faster compounds across the range: including the new hypersoft.
"We realised that, under the unique circumstances of this year, some of our 2017 compounds were perhaps conservative: the tyres we have created for 2018 addresses this, in line with the objective of having around two pit stops at most races.
"However, the fundamental design concept of the tyres hasn't changed next year, preserving the attributes that all drivers have appreciated this year and allowing them to push hard from the start to the finish of each stint. The new range consists of faster tyres that should lead to even harder and more spectacular racing in 2018."
Check out our Thursday gallery from Yas Island, here.