Pirelli receive Red Bull backing

Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner has given his backing to Formula One tyre manufacturer Pirelli.

Pirelli have introduced two new tyre compounds for the 2018 Formula One World Championship.

In fact the Italian tyre developer will now supply Formula One teams with seven slick P Zero compounds, alongside the Cinturato intermediates and full wets.

Currently Formula One teams and drivers get to pick tyre compounds from the range of purple ultra-soft, red super-soft, yellow soft, white medium and orange hard.

For 2018, a tweak to the colours will see the new super-hard compound become the orange striped tyre, with the hard compound now painted up in ‘ice blue’.

At the other end of the scale a new hypersoft tyre has been introduced and this will be painted in pink.

‘Both our drivers liked the softest tyre that was introduced. It seemed to be positively received, although I think they’ve still got a bit of work to do to tidy things up. Red Bull team principal Christian Horner told motorsport.com.

In fact all of the tyre compounds in 2018 will be a step softer than in 2017, making each new compound the faster.

‘what I hope it allows Pirelli to do is pick the right tyres and put the best show on each grand prix, and that they’ve got the whole range covered.

‘What it should allow them to do is pick the right range of tyres for each event to provide exciting races with at least two stops, and maybe even three at some.’