Pirelli make major announcement after severe F1 driver criticism

Pirelli has announced it has decided to abandon its C6 tyre for the 2026 season after severe criticism from F1 drivers.

Introduced for this season as the softest dry compound, the new tyre made its debut at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, and has been used at street circuits, such as Monaco and Azerbaijan.

However, drivers have been critical of the tyre and its performance, with some believing there was not much delta difference between the C6 and the C5 compounds, with the latter being favoured. 

The decision was reached after Pirelli undertook work to create bigger deltas between the tyres in a bid to create more strategic variance, with the C6 ultimately not providing enough pace difference to the C5.

As such, it has been scrapped.

For the new technical regulations for 2026, F1 will have the five dry-weather compounds, with these being finalised based on simulation data about the new breed of machines, with Pirelli unable to undertake on-track testing as these cars do not yet exist.