(Motorsports new) Recent Grands Prix in China and Japan demonstrated how a nearly perfect two-stopper can provide unpredictability, which in turn encourages a lot of overtaking and action.

The issue facing Formula One is that there isn’t enough variety in tire compounds available to replicate the perfect combination for multi-stop excitement at every track.

Frequently, one of the choices is deemed unsuitable for racing, forcing competitors to use the same route, or a tire that is only suitable for running nearly the whole race distance gives way to an uninteresting one-stopper.

Pirelli is fully aware of this problem, particularly because aiming for two-stop races is one of the goals set by Formula One.

It’s not that simple to figure out how to ensure that the tires it brings to every race will guarantee a two-stop, though.

Mario Isola, the head of Pirelli’s Formula One and auto racing division, jokingly stated that producing “24 times three” compounds would be necessary to do that.

He acknowledges that Pirelli faces a difficult task in developing a spectrum of compounds that perform to the extremes shown on the calendar, even though it is probably not as severe as that.

Specifically, Isola claims that the move in recent years toward more street races has made the selection process more difficult because high-energy locations like Spa and Silverstone don’t require the same equipment as places like Monaco and Singapore.

For this reason, he proposes that enabling a larger spectrum of softs to handle the city venues may hold the key to locking other venues into the thrilling two-stoppers.

“We have more and more street circuits on the calendar, and street circuits usually require soft tyres,” Isola said.

Therefore, it is likely that we will require one more [option] on the soft side or that we will need to slightly adjust the range on the soft side going forward.

“We are thinking about having compounds with higher mechanical resistance for 2025 in order to shift the spectrum toward the softer end.

“Ideally, we would need about six [compounds]; this would mean that most races would need to halt twice with distinct tactics, rather than all of them. Everything would be challenging.”

Isola explains the difficulty Pirelli has in developing compounds that would perform on the variety of circuits that Formula One races on by pointing out that Monaco would be completely independent if custom tires were chosen for every track.

“For Monte Carlo, you need three specific compounds, while for some other circuits, you need one specific compound,” he stated. “So, to cover all the different possibilities is not easy.”

It’s not simple, but it’s also not unfeasible. One sensible solution to guarantee more than two stops in the future would be for Formula One to expand the options and do away with the five-compound cap.

Pirelli might be able to offer a variety of tires for city circuits, a selection for traditional tracks, and then some options for challenging sites like Silverstone by doing that.

However, that is easy to say and difficult to execute, particularly when it comes to determining the ideal range for locations like Monaco, Singapore, and Las Vegas, where jogging is not possible outside of the Grand Prix weekends.

“It’s impossible to test there, so the problem is how to develop tyres?” replied Isola.

Because low severity locations like Monaco are street circuits, we find it difficult to locate locations to replicate them. Neither Singapore nor Baku can be asked to close their cities for a Pirelli test!

“Well, we could inquire, but I doubt we would be granted permission. For this reason, we are considering several solutions.”

While it may seem unrealistic, the advantages of having a post-race tyre test in Monaco or Singapore would last the entire year.

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