F1 2025: Pirelli releases tire choices for first 5 races

Pirelli has announced the tire options for the first five races on the F1 2025 schedule

You know the Formula 1 season is truly around the corner when we start talking about tires.

Ahead of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix Pirelli, the sport’s exclusive tire supplier, released the three slick compounds available for each of the first five grands prix. While the selections for the first four races remain the same from 2024, there is one change for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, which is the fifth race on the schedule.

“Based on our experience from last year and with the information gathered during the development phase of the new compounds, we wanted to go in this direction, to give the teams and drivers a wider range of strategy options,” explained Pirelli’s Director of Motorsport, Mario Isola. “In 2024, 18 of the 20 drivers had started on the Medium, namely the C3 and an early neutralisation in the race pushed 14 of those to switch immediately to the C2, which was then the Hard, keeping it all the way to the end. With a softer trio, we believe this can lead to a situation where there could be a mix between one or two-stop strategies.”

Let’s dive into each of the first five race weekends, and the tire compounds selected by Pirelli.

What tires are available for the F1 Australian Grand Prix?

For the first race of the season, Pirelli is opting for three of the softer compounds in their range. The C3 will be the hard tire, the C4 will be the medium, and the C5 will be the soft.

This is the same range of options as 2024.

What tires are available for the F1 Chinese Grand Prix?

As with the Australian Grand Prix, the three options are the same for the teams in 2025 as in 2024. In Shanghai the teams will have the C2 as the hard, the C3 as the medium, and the C4 as the soft.

The Chinese Grand Prix is also the first F1 Sprint Race on the 2025 schedule.

What tires are available for the F1 Japanese Grand Prix?

When the grid heads to Japan, they can expect the Suzuka circuit to be hard on their tires. As such, Pirelli is opting for the three hardest compounds in their range. The C1 will be the hard, the C2 will be the medium, and the C3 will be the soft.

This is the same as last season and illustrates just how different the circuits can be when it comes to tires. Where the C3 is the hard compound to open the season in Australia, it is the soft compound in Japan.

What tires are available for the F1 Bahrain Grand Prix?

As with the circuit in Japan, the Bahrain International Circuit is also tough on tires. That means the same compounds will be available for the fourth race weekend of the 2025 F1 season. The C1 will be the hard, the C2 will be the medium, and the C3 will be the soft in Bahrain.

Again, this remains unchanged from 2024.

What tires are available for the F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix?

For the fifth race of the 2025 F1 season, we have our first departure from 2024 compound options. For the tough Jeddah Corniche Circuit teams will have the C3 as the hard, the C4 as the medium, and the C5 as the soft.

As noted above, Pirelli believes a move to softer tires — last year teams had the C2, the C3, and the C4 available — could create a mix of strategy options.

These selections from Pirelli also mean that the new C6 ultra-soft compound will not be used at the start of the season.

This graphic from Pirelli highlights the slick tire options for each of the first five race weekends: