For the 2025 season, Pirelli has introduced a new tyre — the C6. It’s softer than the C5, which was the softest tyre available before. Softer tyres usually provide more grip, but they also wear out faster.

The C6 has already been tested on track, but it hasn’t been used in a race yet. That will change at the Imola Grand Prix, taking place from 16th to 18th May.

During the Emilia-Romagna weekend, drivers will be able to use the C6 as the soft tyre, the C5 as the medium, and the C4 as the hard. This is the softest tyre selection Pirelli has chosen for any race so far this season.

The C6 was first tested in Mexico and Abu Dhabi last year. It was originally planned for circuits like Monaco and Singapore, where tyre wear is low. But now, Pirelli has chosen to debut it earlier, at Imola, in the hope of making the race less predictable and more fun to watch.

For the Miami Grand Prix two weeks before, which will include a sprint race, the tyres will be slightly harder, but still one step softer than last year, choosing the C5 as the soft, C4 as the medium, and C3 as the hard. 

Pirelli decided to go softer after some recent races were seen as too predictable. In Japan and China, most drivers only stopped once, and there wasn’t much overtaking. George Russell and other drivers felt the tyres used were too hard for those tracks. By choosing softer tyres for upcoming races, Pirelli hopes to offer more strategy options and help create more exciting racing.