Tyres

Compounds, allocations, wet-weather tyres and the rules that shape tyre strategy.

• Tyre compounds and coloursPirelli brings three of its five dry compounds to each race and labels them soft, medium and hard with red, yellow and white markings.
• Tyre rulesHow many sets each driver gets, when they have to hand them back, and the rule that every driver must use two different dry compounds in the race.
• Intermediate and wet tyresGreen-marked intermediates are for a damp track and blue-marked full wets for standing water. Using either one in a race removes the two-compound rule.
• Tyre temperature and blanketsF1 tyres only grip properly inside a narrow temperature window. Teams pre-heat them in electric blankets, and drivers spend much of every lap managing heat.
• Tyre wear and degradationWhy lap times get slower as tyres age, what graining and blistering are, and what the "cliff" means.