Pirelli to keep it simple for 2019 with just three tyre names

Pirelli, Formula 1's official tyre supplier, has confirmed that its three-tyre selection on race weekends will simply be called 'hard, medium and soft' in 2019, regardless of the compounds that shall be used.

The change follows the FIA's wish for simplification with regard to tyre choices, a criteria it has also incorporated into its 2020-2023 tyre tender for the sport.

"That is the plan," said Pirelli F1 boss Mario Isola

"I can confirm that I made all the investigation within the company to understand if it is feasible, because obviously there is an implication with the production, logistics, how we manage the tyres, and marketing as well.

"I made an investigation with all the departments to make sure we're not doing something wrong. I confirmed that it's feasible. Obviously we need to make some work around it.

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"The three names are clear – hard, medium and soft – but the three colours are still under discussion.

"It was a request coming from F1 and the FIA, and we made the necessary changes in order to achieve that for 2019. The next step is to define the colours, and to announce officially that we are going in that direction."

Pirelli will however continue to disclose to fans the type of compound supplied for each race.

"The other open points are that we need to give a name to the compounds to give you the information on which are the real compounds that we are using, and how we manage the tests, because at the tests all the compounds are available, because we need to understand how to paint the sidewalls at the test," added the Italian engineer.

"During the pre-season test I can imagine that there will be some confusion! But hopefully we can fix it with races, where we have the three compounds.

"It is a complete change of approach compared to the past."

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