Six colour codes to differentiate Pirelli tyres

[Rossticles]

Italian tyre manufacturers Pirelli, embarking on the first season of a three-year agreement to supply Formula One, have revealed the colours that will distinguish the six different types of rubber that will be used throughout 2011.

Each type will carry its own distinct colouring on the Pirelli and PZero logos affixed to the sidewall. Under the sport's rules, only two compounds of slick tyre - known as the prime and the option - will be used for each race. In addition to this, intermediate and wet tyres can be fitted if it rains.

The six colours are as follows:
Wet - orange
Intermediate - light blue
Super soft - red
Soft - yellow
Medium - white
Hard - silver

In order to make the differences between the prime and option tyre more pronounced, Pirelli's strategy is to offer a step of at least one compound between the tyres nominated for each race. If the track conditions require it though, this strategy may be revised.

The prime and option tyres for the first three Grands Prix of the year - Australia, Malaysia and China - will be hard and soft compounds, meaning that silver and yellow tyres will be first to make an appearance in Melbourne.

"We' re very excited by the prospect of returning to Formula One for the first time in 20 years, and we're aiming to be a proactive and colourful partner in Formula One,” commented Pirelli's Motorsport Director Paul Hembery. “So what better way to symbolise this than a brightly coloured selection of Pirelli logos to run on the sidewalls? These will enable both live and television audiences to tell at a glance who is on what compounds, which will be vital knowledge as tyres are set to form a key part of race strategy this year."

Pirelli is no stranger to brightly-coloured tyres: when the firm was previously involved in Formula One, the Benetton team was supplied with multi-coloured rubber to run as part of their ‘United Colors’ campaign back in 1986.

http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2011/3/11829.html

This is going to take some getting used to.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

The silver looks like a faded white. They should have done red, orange, yellow, and white for the dry tires.

 

[KobayashiFan]

Personally I can't see this 'bright idea' lasting long, before they are asked to change it. I reckon there are going to be many complaints from puzzled fans. Man, I'm confused already!

Basically, what I mean is that if they'll want to have this information about the tyres as clearly as possible. But six colours to remember is mind-boggling. Especially when the white and silver could easily get mixed-up. Come to think of it, why do we need these colour codes anyway? We've never had them in the past, at least not to this extent. And I can't remember it being heavily demanded either.

 

[F1Addict]

It should be:
White - Hard
Yellow - Medium
Orange - Soft
Red - Super Soft
Light Blue - Intermediate
Green/Pink - Wet

Silver is a stupid colour when trying to provide clear differentiation of tyre compounds. Some people at Pirelli are lacking some simple common sense..

 

[Rossticles]

I agree with you Kobayashi. It was like when the FIA thought putting a dot on the tires to distinguish them was a good idea.

 

[Ardius]

Looks great to me, far prefer this over Bridgestone's "Green stripe" (and before that, white stripes).
Now we can easily tell the difference between not only dry compounds, but also between wet and dry (rather than before, where they could switch to an intermediate tyre but it wasn't easily distinguishable from the hard dry tyre).

I don't see a problem with the silver colour because as far as I know, Pirelli are keeping Bridgestone's "one compound gap", where they will either only bring super soft and mediums or softs and hard compounds. So either red+white or yellow+silver will be at each race - where is the issue here?

 

[eSZee]

Wait, what was hard about differentiating between hard and inters? Inters and wets had tread while primes and hards didn't right? So only on TV it was a bit hard to differentiate, which in my opinion, shouldn't be taken into account when designing tires.

 

[Robin]

I do prefer this system to the previous stripes and I think it will be much clearer during the race once you memorize the colours! The commentators will be telling us whats going on anyway.

I think they should have done it in this order...

White - Super Soft
Yellow - Soft
Orange - Medium
Red - Hard
Silver - Intermediate
Light Blue - Wet

But should really change the silver to something like green though. Then green could be super soft and white could be inter's (to symbolize clouds).

Robin.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

It was like when the FIA thought putting a dot on the tires to distinguish them was a good idea.

I think that was a case of something being good in theory, but terrible in execution. The idea was that as the cars traveled at speed, the dot would be moving so fast that to the human eye, it would form a ring aroud the tyre. It just didn't work as expected.

So either red+white or yellow+silver will be at each race - where is the issue here?

Teams are going to be doing tyre development during Friday practice sessions. This will include testing an experimental fifth compound that will only be available at certain races. I believe they will be using it during the Turkish Grand Prix. Depending on the tyre designation and make-up, the fifth compound could easily be positioned between the medium and hard tyres.

That said, I've heard the fifth cmpound will be known as "extra hard" or "super hard", which makes sense if Pirelli are designing it with Istanbul in mind because the demands on tyres are much greater there.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

So either red+white or yellow+silver will be at each race - where is the issue here?

If they're not easily distinguishable then they could still be mixed up, but I guess it doesn't matter too much.

 

[N99GT]

yerh i think they need to change the white and silver, its gonna be rather hard when the cars are whizzing around, was better with the grooves and the green strips and all, but now its slicks!
but hey only around 5 days and 21 hours till Friday practice!!!! woooop! ><

 

[Roo]

Man, I'm confused already!

Basically, what I mean is that if they'll want to have this information about the tyres as clearly as possible. But six colours to remember is mind-boggling.
...
Come to think of it, why do we need these colour codes anyway? We've never had them in the past, at least not to this extent. And I can't remember it being heavily demanded either.

This. I prefered Bridgestone's green stripe, as there was only 2 options - it's either the harder compound or softer compound, regardless of what compounds are actually present. It was always mentioned in the buildup and usually the commentary what the two compounds brought to the race were. I know there's no way I'm going to remember all the colours, even if they are just using 2 at a time - it just seems to be overcomplicating something simple.

 

[Alex.]

I like the idea, people will get used to remembering them after 3 races.

 

[PeterJB]

These stand out more than green lines. I like it.

 

[porkchop87]

I think the green lines are a better idea because they are more visible when the wheels are spinning, and they are visible through dashcams. I don't think these new tyre colour codes will be as visual, but we will see. It does look pretty cool.

 

[Joker-GTBR]

Silver could be switched to a light green

 

[prisonermonkeys]

If they're not easily distinguishable then they could still be mixed up, but I guess it doesn't matter too much.

But as Ardius says, white and silver tyres won't be used at the same race. If you can't tell the difference between yellow/silver and red/white, something is seriously wrong with you and you should probably get it checked out. I mean, I'm colour-blind and even I can tell the difference between the two colours in each set.

 

[sumbrownkid]

Magenta: Tire slightly used.

Black: Lol what?

 

[Tired Tyres]

Why so many different colours? They can only bring two compounds to each race can't they? They only need two colours for slicks.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Yes, they can only bring two compounds (technically four, since they'll always have a supply of intermediates and slicks in case it gets wet). But Pirelli are taking the idea of coloured markings to differentiate between hard and soft compounds one step further: instead of simply marking the hard and soft compounds for each individual race, they are marking all compounds with a different colour so that spectators and television audiences will be able to tell exactly which compounds are being used for the race.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

But as Ardius says, white and silver tyres won't be used at the same race. If you can't tell the difference between yellow/silver and red/white, something is seriously wrong with you and you should probably get it checked out. I mean, I'm colour-blind and even I can tell the difference between the two colours in each set.

During the races you don't get a still side-on shot like that. And commentators don't always get the tire choice right.

 

[Alex.]

Dude you're just thinking up excuses now. There's a side on shot every 4 seconds and commentators, especially ours, don't get it wrong. The tyre in motion will look like it has a partial coloured sidewall, I think it could look great.

You telling me you can't tell that's yellow?

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

There's a side on shot every 4 seconds

I said still meaning non-motion.

commentators, especially ours, don't get it wrong.

I'm sure Legard and Brundle have never gotten them wrong.

You telling me you can't tell that's yellow?

I was concerned with the silver and white. But since what I usually want to know during the race is concerned with the choice between the 2 different compounds, then yes it doesn't matter much.

 

[Stevisiov]

I think the tyre colouring will work well, silver and white could be quite similar but it should be a problem if all tracks have a compound gap of two.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

During the races you don't get a still side-on shot like that.

We will clearly be able to see the colour of the logos from on-board shots. And particularly during pit stops. The commentators will no doubt have a list of compounds and their colours, so when someone comes in and puts red tyres on, they'll be able to tell the world which compound the driver is using.

 

[Rossticles]

This already isn't going over well? I have almost memorized the colors now anyway. Silver and white for the 2 hardest and for the wet weather blue and orange. I really did that without looking back at the first page. I don't see this being a problem at any time during the season. As soon as the fan knows what tires are at what race it shouldn't be a big deal to remember which is which. I look forward to more innovations like this. Pirelli is just trying to get the fan as knowledgeable as possible about what's going on.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

We will clearly be able to see the colour of the logos from on-board shots. And particularly during pit stops.

I didn't even notice the inside marking. That's a great idea.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

I'm glad you've come around to the idea.