F2 will switch to 18" tires in 2020

While 18″ tires are not expected before 2021 in Formula 1, a call for tenders for the supply of rims of this size having recently been unveiled by the FIA, the F2 will serve as a full-scale laboratory for Pirelli Motorsport, the sole manufacturer of the discipline.

The championship will in fact welcome, from the next season in 2020, 18″ tires as confirmed this Thursday on the sidelines of the Barcelona event in Catalonia.

“This underlines the holistic approach we take in the FIA ​​championships, explains Stefano Domenicali, President of the FIA ​​Single-Seater Commission. We thus allow drivers to have the best possible training before arriving in Formula 1 on a technical level.

Pirelli will thus be able to build up a database of primary importance before transforming the test into F1, this parameter being among the host of new features expected on the technical level for 2021.

“At the same time, it represents a great challenge because we have to develop and produce tires for F2 in a very short time, recognizes Mario Isola, Pirelli motorsport manager. We support the single-seater series pyramid set up by the FIA ​​and it is a further step in strengthening synergies. »

The first shakedown took place yesterday on the Italian Mugello track, with a test program planned for the end of the 2019 season.