Pirelli announces tire allocations for the second week of Bahrain testing

With the final three days of F1 winter testing starting on February 18, Pirelli has announced which tires have been chosen by the teams.

Published 17/02/2026 à 08:00

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Pirelli announces tire allocations for the second week of testing in Bahrain

La Formula 1 Pirelli is back for three final days of testing, the last opportunity for fine-tuning before the start of the 2026 season, scheduled for March 8 in Melbourne, Australia. While only the three hardest compounds were provided during the first week of testing, Pirelli is making its full range of dry-weather tires available this time. Each team was therefore able to choose from the five compounds offered for the 24 sets of tires brought to Bahrain, with the C1 being the hardest compound and the C5 the softest. Furthermore, teams are allowed to keep the sets of tires used for fewer than nine laps during the previous week.

Going it alone, Mercedes Benz will continue in line with the initial trials, using the three hardest compounds. For their part, Red Bull, Alpine, Williams et Aston Martin They opted for softer compounds, skipping the hardest C1. Along with Cadillac, and with the exception of Red Bull, these teams will also test the softest tires in Pirelli's range. Most teams will primarily focus on the mid-range C3 tires during this second week of testing. Aston Martin is bringing the largest number, with twenty sets.

To distinguish between compounds, when two compounds share the same color, the harder of the two will display a checkerboard pattern on its sides. Thus, the hardest gums are white, medium ones are yellow, and the softest are red.

Join us on Wednesday, February 18th to follow the F1 tests from 8:00 am to 17:00 pm, with live commentary on AUTOhebdo.fr.