Have Red Bull grabbed an edge with Pirelli’s 2018 F1 tyres?

Red Bull has maximised its testing time with the 2018 Pirelli tyres by notching up the highest number of kilometres ahead of the next Formula 1 season.

Pirelli unveiled its 2018 tyre compounds during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix race weekend which included the launch of the Hypersoft plus the Superhard – but the Italian manufacturer has moved to confirm the new hard tyre will act as a back-up compound for next season.

With all tyre compounds predicted to be two steps softer compared to this year’s tyres, higher degradation has been targeted to increase pit stops and shake-up race strategies after a number of races this season were one-stops with minimal overtaking. According to Pirelli data, overtaking halved in 2017 on the season before while the Russian Grand Prix witnessed just one on-track overtake.

All teams have enjoyed private Pirelli tyre tests during the season at various circuits to provide the tyre maker with data to produce its 2018 tyres which were officially debuted at the post-season Abu Dhabi test last week.

Pirelli’s data reveals Red Bull has notched up the highest number of kilometres on the prototype and 2018 tyre compounds with 2,637.74km while McLaren were second on the list with 2,350.11km.

Force India produced the smallest distance run on the new tyres with just 490.66km – less than one-fifth of the mileage completed by Red Bull.

Pirelli also revealed a total of 198 sets of 2018 prototype tyres were used with 147 slicks, 18 intermediates and 33 rain tyres trialled.

Testing took place across eight different circuits to create a wide database for different conditions, temperatures, track surfaces and circuit characteristics. Existing F1 tracks Abu Dhabi, Barcelona, Budapest, Mexico City, Sakhir and Silverstone were used plus the 2018 French Grand Prix venue Paul Ricard and Magny-Cours.

Pirelli’s F1 team and kms covered during 2018 tyre test:

Red Bull: 2,637.74 (all km)

McLaren: 2,350.11

Mercedes: 1,974.69

Ferrari: 1,546.12

Renault: 1,210.30

Toro Rosso: 1,200.99

Haas: 995.58

Sauber: 942.58

Williams: 936.67

Force India: 490.66