Formula 1 has always been a sport where the elements play a big role. Cars are sensitive to temperatures, winds and most important of all the rain. This is why there are different tyre compounds for wet weather than there are for dry. While these compounds make it possible to race in the wet, the extent to which drivers can race in the rain is determined by visibility as well as grip on track.
Here is where different wet weather compounds come in, with the full wet tyre hardly ever used due to poor handling. This is why Pirelli has confirmed plans to introduce a brand new compound in coming years which has been dubbed the 'Super-Intermediate'.
Early testing opportunities cancelled due to Middle East conflict
This tyre was set to be tested in an early season session in Bahrain under simulated conditions, but these plans have been abandoned for now. Director of Pirelli Motorsport Dario Marrafuschi has ↗︎commented on the plans and what will be next in developing this tyre for the current era of cars:
“The super-intermediate is in development, something we are pursuing. We haven't abandoned this path, we are always very open to technology and innovation, evaluating improved products compared to the current one, so that is one avenue."
"Unfortunately, we lost the initially planned wet test, which was the test in Bahrain where we were unable to do it, and at the same time we still don't have feedback from these cars with the current product in the wet itself. Therefore, development in wet conditions is inevitably slightly slowed down compared to what our plans were."
The Super Intermediate has already made its mark in other series
Mario Isola, Ex-Director of Pirelli Motorsport has talked about the new tyre that is being developed for F1 and what it could mean for the sport should this change go ahead:
“We want to study it, we want to take it forward. We introduced it in F2, while in F3 we had already introduced it last year. In GT it works very well; these are all series that do not have intermediates, so we are already starting from series that are used to using one wet product and one slick. But it is a more modern product than the current full wet design.”
“We will continue to study it for F1 2027. The possible introduction will be decided after having verified what the actual situation is in a real wet event in 2026, whether it is better to stay with intermediates and wets with small modifications or if it might be a good idea to go with the single design.”
In recent years we have seen quite some controversy around racing in wet conditions as visibility was a massive issue with the previous era of F1. These new cars however have not yet seen any rain across all session of the 11 rounds that have passed.
During the upcoming Dutch GP though, rain is very likely to fall at some point in the weekend which could fulfill this wish from Pirelli.
