FIA announce mandatory tyre change for all F1 stars at Saudi Grand Prix

The FIA have announced a mandatory change to the compounds of tyres used by all F1 drivers and teams at the upcoming Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

F1’s tyre suppliers, Pirelli, have revealed that for round five teams will use a softer compound of tyres than those made available at the opening four rounds, with the C3 as the Hard, the C4 as Medium and the C5 as Soft.

After discussions with the FIA and F1 teams, Pirelli stated that the reason for the change was to create more strategy choices and therefore more ‘exciting’ and ‘unpredictable racing’.

Pirelli continued that in the previous four editions of the Saudi Arabian GP, the one-stop strategy had dominated and they hope the softer compound of tyres forces teams into more creative strategies in Jeddah.

Why have Pirelli made tyre changes for Saudi Arabia?

The harder C1, C2 and C3 were selected for the opening four rounds in Australia, China, Japan and Bahrain, with the Japanese GP in particular criticised for its lack of on-track action.

Low tyre degradation and a one-stop strategy at Suzuka led to Max Verstappen leading from lights out to the chequered flag, with the race only featuring 15 overtakes after the first lap.

The track resurfacing in sector one at Suzuka also meant that tyre degradation was much lower than it has been in the past, and alongside the new surface in China, it revealed that a resurfaced track is more likely to be kinder of the drivers' tyres.

There are no track surface changes expected at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit ahead of this weekend’s Saudi Arabian GP, which hopefully, in combination with Pirelli’s softer tyre compounds, will enhance on-track action.

Furthermore, scorching weather is expected in Jeddah which could lead to hotter track temperatures, and thus tyre degradation may be higher than we have seen in previous races due to the combination of softer tyres and extreme heat.

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